Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], September 23 : Launching a fierce attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asserted that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has "no moral authority to continue" and should be arrested immediately over alleged institutional manipulation.
This comes after a report by the Indian Express that said that decisions taken on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process were objected to by two of the three Election Commissioners.
According to the report, "Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions taken and orders issued without their knowledge."
Reacting to this, Banerjee alleged that the poll machinery had been compromised by deploying partisan officials aligned with the BJP, calling the revelations an unprecedented scandal in the nation's electoral history.
"This is such a scandalous story. We had never seen this in our lives. This Election Commissioner must be arrested. He has no moral authority to continue, and the BJP must see that they cannot destroy our Constitution. They cannot demolish democracy", Banerjee said, while addressing a press conference.
"They cannot depute their own EROs in the name of the BJP IT team. What we had said earlier has now been completely exposed. Gyanesh Kumar has misused the police and, in coordination with the BJP, they have deputed their own BJP-minded people across the system. Such a scandal has never happened before," she remarked.
Mounting a fierce personal attack on the Chief Election Commissioner, Banerjee asserted that he should step down and face legal accountability.
"If you have any honour left, you yourself would ask to be arrested. You should be arrested," she said.
Meanwhile, responding to the Express' report, the Election Commission, in a statement, said that all orders by the body carry full legal sanction and any queries raised by members at the stage of drafting procedures were standard practice.
“The ECI is a constitutional body that functions under the strict mandate of Article 324 of the Constitution, statutory rules and established institutional conventions. The Commission operates as a multi-member constitutional body. Written notes, observations, technical suggestions and internal checks-and-balances are standard, ongoing practices designed to ensure complete transparency, legal compliance and operational rigour. All actions of ECI have been in accordance of laws and instructions of the Commission. All official orders, decisions and administrative directions issued by the Commission carry full legal sanctions and follow established statutory procedures... Any operational queries or inputs raised by Commission members during draft stages are part of standard administrative practice aimed at safeguarding voter rights. The suggestions given by the Commissioners were for further improving the electoral processes," it said.
The Commission further said that differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberation in any institution.