Samik Bhattacharya told reporters at Panihati that Gyanesh Kumar earned a Padma Bhushan for steering a violence‑free assembly election and for purging illegal Bangladeshis from the voter roll through the Special Intensive Revision exercise.
The statement hits a nerve after two election commissioners reportedly objected to decisions allegedly taken in their names during the SIR, sparking debate over the EC’s internal deliberations.
A youth‑led pressure group, the Cockroach Janta Party, set a 48‑hour deadline for Kumar to resign and warned of a nationwide agitation if he stayed in the post.
Rahul Gandhi slammed the CEC as a traitor, but Bhattacharya dismissed the criticism, citing the CEC’s role in cleansing voter rolls and maintaining democratic order.
Meanwhile, a petition has been filed before the Supreme Court challenging the EC’s poll‑related orders and software changes allegedly made by Kumar without the concurrence of the dissenting commissioners.
The next development will be the Supreme Court’s hearing of the petition, slated for next month, which could redefine the Election Commission’s authority in West Bengal.