Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday demanded the immediate removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Dnyanesh Kumar, alleging that two Election Commissioners (ECs) had raised concerns over the functioning of the Election Commission and brought alleged irregularities to the attention of the Cabinet Secretary.
He said the reported concerns raised by Election Commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu made it necessary for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take action against the CEC. “We all opposition parties have been raising our voice over the invalid and anti-democratic acts and decisions of the ECI for the last few years.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief said opposition parties had for several years raised concerns over what he described as “invalid and anti-democratic” decisions of the Election Commission. Now the two Election Commissioners have raised their voice and also written to the Cabinet Secretary,” Thackeray said.
“Taking note of this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should immediately sack Dnyanesh Kumar. All opposition parties need to unite on this issue to ensure that the CEC is removed,” he added. They also separately approached the Cabinet Secretary over changes in the oversight of the IT systems underpinning electoral rolls.
“We heard that Dnyanesh Kumar was operating on the instructions of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and it needs to be probed,” Thackeray said. “All actions of ECI have been in accordance with laws and instructions of the Commission,” the poll body said in a statement. The poll body said its three members may have individual views, observations or suggestions during deliberations, but all final decisions of the poll body are taken unanimously. The report that sparked a controversy said the two commissioners had raised questions over decisions allegedly taken without their knowledge and, in one instance, described a change concerning Form 6 for new voters as “unauthorised and illegal”.
