Opposition Legislators Demand Resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar Amid Electoral Row

Legislators from the Congress party disrupted proceedings in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Friday, September 26, 2026, by entering the well of the house to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The protest, which occurred during the Question Hour of the Autumn Session, involved members flashing banners that declared there was no democracy without fair elections. The demonstration follows mounting political pressure regarding reported internal disagreements within the three-member Election Commission of India.

Previous internal disputes within the election panel include a 2009 recommendation by CEC N Gopalaswami to remove an election commissioner, which was subsequently rejected by the president. Additionally, during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, an election commissioner publicly dissented from majority rulings on Model Code complaints.

Simultaneously, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and leader of the opposition in the Odisha Assembly, Naveen Patnaik, publicly demanded the immediate resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar. Patnaik also called for a thorough revisit of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. These demands were prompted by recent media reports alleging that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected to decisions made by the CEC on at least 14 occasions over the past 10 months. The reported disputes concern electoral roll management, including the addition and deletion of voter names, modifications to voter registration forms, and protocols for accessing voter data.

Legal frameworks establish that differing opinions among election commissioners are resolved by majority vote. Furthermore, a 1995 Supreme Court judgment affirmed that the Chief Election Commissioner's view does not automatically prevail over other commissioners.

In response to the demands, the Odisha unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dismissed the allegations as misleading and lacking factual evidence. Biranchi Narayan Tripathy, general secretary of the Odisha BJP, challenged the opposition parties to present their evidence to the Election Commission or the Supreme Court. Tripathy defended the integrity of the SIR process, noting that the Supreme Court had previously declared the exercise valid and, in some instances, directly oversaw its implementation in other states. He questioned why the BJD and Congress had not lodged formal complaints during the six to seven months the revision process was underway.

Conversely, BJD leaders have maintained that the CEC no longer holds the moral authority to lead the commission. Party spokesperson Lenin Mohanty alleged that approximately 27.50 lakh eligible voters were excluded from the electoral rolls in Odisha at the behest of the BJP. The BJD has indicated it intends to escalate the issue, with party officials suggesting they may organize public protests to demand a re-examination of the entire SIR process.