At the lawns of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence, the mock parliament resembled a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, with marble steps echoing historic debates.
Kumar, 81, served as Lok Sabha Speaker from 2009 to 2014 under the UPA, becoming the first woman and only the second Dalit to hold the post. Her tenure is remembered for a bland yet firm style that kept the house in order.
The session began awkwardly when microphones failed to activate, but she resumed, denouncing the CEC and BJP for alleged election collusion and urging that every voter be protected. “The voter is the soul of democracy,” she said, adding that even one denied the right to vote wounds the nation.
Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, then tabled a motion accusing Gyanesh Kumar of six charges, demanding he be tried for treason. The motion was delivered in thirty minutes and was met with a chorus of approvals from the INDIA bloc.
Kumar’s stern tone and use of Hindi idioms underscored the gravity of the alleged misconduct, with opposition leaders rallying to the cause. The motion will be debated in the next session of the mock parliament, where the fates of the CEC and the future of election oversight hang in the balance.