Samik Bhattacharya, chief of the West Bengal BJP unit, made the audacious pitch at a presser in Panihati, North 24 Parganas, on Friday. He argued that Kumar deserves the Padma Bhushan—India’s third-highest civilian honour—“at the very least” for overseeing an Assembly election without deaths or intimidation. Bhattacharya also credited Kumar with “cleansing” the electoral roll by removing Bangladeshis, a charge that has no legal basis and carries severe defamatory implications.
But the praise lands in a storm. Just a day earlier, the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) gave Kumar a 48-hour deadline to resign or face nationwide agitation. CJP founder Abhijit Dipke is also demanding criminal proceedings against Kumar and the repeal of the 2023 law governing EC appointments. His question pointedly: why is the BJP rushing to defend Kumar?
The core of the controversy is the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Reports indicate that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected to several decisions made in their names. The EC has dismissed this, stating that differing views are part of normal deliberation and that all final decisions, including SIR-related ones, were unanimous. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra echoed this, calling the internal differences proof of a “democratic” EC.
The fight has now moved to the Supreme Court, where a plea challenges EC orders and software changes allegedly made by Kumar without the other two commissioners’ concurrence. Congress held nationwide protests on Friday, demanding Kumar’s removal and arrest. Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, however, drew a dismissive response from Bhattacharya, who said the Congress doesn’t even take Gandhi seriously.