OPPOSITION parties are preparing to submit a fresh notice in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to move a motion for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in the next few days, sources said on Thursday. This will be the third attempt by the Opposition to move a motion for Kumar’s removal.The notice is being drafted and will be vetted by legal experts before being submitted in both Houses of Parliament, most likely by next week. A notice moved by 73 Opposition MPs on April 24 seeking Kumar’s removal is pending in the Rajya Sabha. However, a fresh notice will be submitted in light of revelations in a report by The Indian Express, they said. INDIA bloc allies are working together on the fresh notice, and it is a collective effort, the sources said. The move comes after an Indian Express report said that ECs Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions and orders they said were issued without their knowledge, even as the national rollout of the SIR was under the supervision of the full commission.

 

Their objections covered the manner in which the statutory voter registration Form 6 was amended, the handling of additions and deletions from voter lists, and centralised control over the electoral roll database, according to the report. Under fire over the red flags raised by two of its commissioners over the SIR process, the EC asserted on Wednesday that differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures. In a statement, the poll panel also said that not only the three commissioners, but every officer of the EC is fully authorised to give his suggestions to the commission for improving the electoral system. In the first attempt, notice submitted in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha for Kumar’s removal was rejected.