Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan has alleged that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar acted "completely illegally" and violated the law governing the functioning of the Election Commission, and demanded his immediate removal from the top post.

Chavan's remarks came amid a continuing political row over the functioning of the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The controversy intensified after a report said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised written objections on at least 14 occasions over 10 months concerning decisions and orders related to electoral rolls and the SIR exercise.