Birla Says Fresh Notice Against CEC Would Follow Rules

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said on October 22 that any fresh notice seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar would be examined under parliamentary rules and procedures. His statement addressed how Parliament would handle a possible new notice; it did not mean one had been filed or admitted. Birla made the remarks at a press conference in response to a question about another removal motion. He said the prescribed process would be followed if the Opposition formally brought one. Whether another notice will be submitted, and whether it would meet the requirements to proceed, remains unsettled. The Opposition has made two earlier attempts to initiate removal proceedings. Notices in the first attempt were rejected by both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, while notices submitted in the second attempt remain pending in the Rajya Sabha, according to reports of the parliamentary process. Opposition parties are demanding Kumar’s removal over alleged irregularities in the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of electoral rolls. They have also accused him of exercising the Commission’s collective powers unilaterally. The Election Commission...