Our Special Correspondent
Opposition parties, including the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, are making intensive efforts to bring a motion of censure (impeachment motion) against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in both Houses of Parliament. Leaders of the two parties are also in talks with other parties to reach a consensus on this issue.
Further, Congress and Trinamool Congress sources said that a draft resolution is being prepared with the help of legal experts, and that a notice for this will soon be submitted to the presiding officers of both Houses on behalf of the INDIA alliance parties.
It has come to light that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have raised written objections 14 times regarding the functioning of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and voter list data management. Following this, opposition parties are considering bringing a censure motion against the Chief Election Commissioner once again.
What are the rules? In this matter, it has been learned that, under Constitutional Rule 324(5), the Chief Election Commissioner can also be removed from office only by following the same procedure used to remove a Supreme Court judge from office.
Details: The Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners, who are directly appointed by the President, can be removed only on the grounds of ‘proven misbehavior’ and ‘incapacity.’ A notice for a motion of censure against them must be signed by at least 100 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 50 MPs in the Rajya Sabha to be admitted.
If the notice is accepted, a committee will be formed to inquire into the allegations against the concerned Commissioner or Chief Commissioner. After that committee investigates and submits its report, the next course of action on the resolution will be decided on the day set aside for this matter in both Houses of Parliament. On that day, the resolution must be passed by a two-thirds (2/3) majority of the members present and voting in both Houses.
If a resolution is passed in Parliament, once official information about it is received through the Parliamentary Secretariat, the President will issue an order removing the Chief Election Commissioner or Election Commissioner from office.
Apart from the removal procedure, the appointment rules state that if a Chief Election Commissioner directly sends a letter to the President stating that he is resigning from office for personal reasons, the President will also make a decision on that basis and take steps to appoint a new Chief Election Commissioner.
Previously, on March 12, a notice for a motion of censure against the Chief Election Commissioner was submitted in Parliament at the initiative of the Trinamool Congress party led by Mamata Banerjee. It had been signed by 130 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 63 MPs in the Rajya Sabha. However, in April, those notices were rejected by both the Rajya Sabha Chairman and the Lok Sabha Speaker.
