Najeeb Jung, former Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, declared on Monday that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is acting unlawfully and called for the ouster of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and his two colleagues. "Our view is that whatever the Election Commission is doing, it is acting unlawfully. All three commissioners should be removed and replaced by new ones; SIR should be scrapped, and the elections conducted under it should be annulled," Jung stated.
This sharp critique follows an Indian Express report revealing internal dissent within the poll body. The report alleged that two Election Commissioners raised 14 specific objections over a 10-month period regarding the SIR exercise, including the inclusion of Form 6 for first-time voters. Despite this internal friction, the ECI proceeded with the voter list revision, prompting the Opposition to claim the decisions were not unanimous.
The opposition's chorus has grown louder, with the Congress, CPI, CPI(M), Trinamool Congress, and Shiv Sena (UBT) collectively demanding Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. Former CEC SY Quraishi added weight to the criticism, arguing that the ECI's recent press note "actually works against them" by acknowledging its own procedural shortcomings.
The protests spilled onto the streets across India on Monday. In Delhi, Indian Youth Congress workers led by chief Uday Bhanu Chib staged a demonstration, while Congress units in Uttarakhand, Assam, Kerala, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh joined the movement. The Indian Youth Congress took to X, stating, "…Hide anywhere from the BJP office to wherever.. But you will have to go to jail." In Jaipur, Rajasthan Police deployed water cannons to disperse protestors, and police in Surat detained Congress workers who were demanding Kumar's resignation.
As the political pressure mounts, the ECI faces its most severe credibility challenge in years. The next critical step lies in whether the Supreme Court of India will intervene to review the legality of the SIR process or if the government will withstand the opposition's demands for a complete overhaul of the poll administration.