Congress demands CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, calls him a ‘liability’ for the country

The Congress on Monday demanded the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar with party general secretary incharge communications Jairam Ramesh alleging that Kumars ability to execute G2s illegal orders had made him a liability for the countryRameshs remarks came a day after Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan speaking at an event at NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad warned that any process resulting in the mass disenfranchisement of Indian citizens would be intrinsically arbitrary and a negation of the constitutional orderThe judges comments were made amid an ongoing political and legal controversy over the Election Commissions Special Intensive Revision SIR of electoral rolls While the Congress has sought to link Bhuyans remarks directly to its criticism of Kumar and the SIR exercise the judge was speaking in a public address and did not issue a judicial order or ruling against the Chief Election CommissionerJairam Ramesh renews demand for CECs resignationSharing a video clip of Justice Bhuyans remarks on X Ramesh accused the CEC of acting in a manner that according to the Congress undermined constitutional safeguardsHere is the bold Justice Ujjal Bhuyan speaking yesterday in NALSAR University in Hyderabad where he exposed the CEC lock stock and barrel If he has any sense of shame Gyanesh Kumar must quit right away His ability to execute G2rsquos illegal orders have now made him a liability for the countrymdash Jairam Ramesh Jairam_Ramesh October 5 2026Here is the bold Justice Ujjal Bhuyan speaking yesterday in NALSAR University in Hyderabad where he exposed the CEC lock stock and barrel If he has any sense of shame Gyanesh Kumar must quit right away Ramesh saidHis Kumars ability to execute G2s illegal orders have now made him a liability for the country he addedRamesh frequently uses the term G2 to refer to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah His allegation that the CEC is executing illegal orders is a political claim by the Congress and has not been established by a courtJustice Bhuyan flags concerns over mass disenfranchisementJustice Bhuyan who delivered the valedictory address at the 19th Justice Bodh Raj Sawhney Memorial Moot Court Competition at NALSAR University of Law spoke about the constitutional significance of the right to voteHe said the Constitution does not create two classes of citizens mdash those with voting rights and those without them He further said any process that results in the wholesale disenfranchisement of millions of citizens effectively leaving them as citizens without voting rights would violate Articles 14 and 326 of the ConstitutionIf any process results in disenfranchising millions and millions of Indian citizens making them secondclass citizens in their own country in the sense of being citizens without a voting right such a process is intrinsically arbitrary No amount of whataboutery can justify it he saidIt strikes at the very heart of the Constitution and I would go to the extent of saying that it is a negation of the Constitutional order which we have adopted based on the Constitution of India he saidBhuyan also stressed that no authority is above the Constitution and linked the right to vote with Indias democratic system and the constitutional framework governing electionsCongress says remarks reinforce its SIR criticismThe Congress has seized on the remarks to intensify its attack on the Election Commission and KumarOn Sunday Ramesh had said Bhuyans comments conclusively prove that the CEC had violated the Constitution both in letter and spirit He also claimed that Kumar had lost the moral right to remain in officeJustice Ujjal Bhuyan a sitting judge of the Supreme Court has been an outspoken champion of environmental protection Ramesh said in his earlier statementNow the courageous jurist has forcefully expressed his view that the right to vote is very much part of the basic structure of the Constitution This conclusively proves that the CEC constitutional functionary himself has violated the Constitution itself both in letter and spirit he saidJustice Bhuyan has said much more and has exposed the CEC lock stock and barrel Gyanesh Kumar has simply lost all moral right to continue in office Ramesh had assertedHowever Justice Bhuyans remarks were made during a public speech and do not amount to a Supreme Court judgment holding that Kumar or the Election Commission violated the Constitution The distinction is significant as the Supreme Court is separately dealing with petitions challenging aspects of the functioning of the Election Commission and the SIR exerciseWith inputs from PTI