INDIA bloc holds symbolic impeachment of CEC Gyanesh Kumar

The INDIA bloc held a symbolic public impeachment of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday, adopting a motion against him unanimously by a show of hands at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in New Delhi. The gathering was a political protest and did not remove Kumar from office through a formal impeachment process. The proceedings were modelled on a parliamentary session, with former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar presiding. The motion was initiated by Kharge, and opposition leaders, civil society representatives, students and voters who said their names had been wrongly removed from electoral rolls took part. The session lasted three and a half hours, according to an account of the event. The motion listed six charges, including alleged election manipulation, voter deletions during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, and claims that Kumar acted at the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. These were allegations made by opposition leaders, not findings established by the public proceedings. Rahul Gandhi described the exercise as a political weapon against people he accused of colluding to...