Chirag Paswan breaks ranks, asks CEC Gyanesh Kumar to clear air over ‘dissent’ within EC on SIR | India News

Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief and Union minister Chirag Paswan on Friday called on Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar to firmly and publicly clarify the Election Commission’s position amid questions over the electoral process.Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, the LJP(RV) leader stressed that the poll panel is an independent constitutional body and that the responsibility to allay public doubts rests primarily with the CEC.Paswan's remarks mark a clear departure from the position taken by several BJP-led NDA constituents.“If questions are being raised on the Election Commission’s conduct… the responsibility lies with the CEC to present his stance clearly. It is problematic if people begin to doubt the electoral process itself. The EC needs to present its stance, not to Rahul Gandhi, but to the public,” he said.Paswan added that while the opposition’s job is to do politics, the Commission must maintain the people’s trust by putting forth its points firmly so that no doubts linger in the public mind.The remarks come against the backdrop of a media house’s investigative report that the CEC chose to differ with two ECs on multiple occasions on decisions linked to the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. While the BJP and JD(U) have largely avoided amplifying the controversy or defending institutional processes, Paswan’s insistence on public clarification sets his party apart within the ruling alliance.This is not the first time the LJP(RV) leader has charted an independent course while remaining part of the NDA. In Bihar, where his party is an ally of the government led by chief minister Samrat Choudhary after the political transitions of recent years, Paswan has repeatedly raised the temperature on law-and-order issues that embarrass the dispensation.Only a day ago, at the party’s GenZ conclave—“Youth Bole Toh”—held in Patna amid heavy rain, he asserted that girls in Bihar are feeling unsafe. The comment, coming on the heels of high-profile incidents including those in Jamui and Samastipur, carried the potential to put the state administration on the defensive. Through a post on X, Paswan had also demanded encounters of those indulging in physical assault of girls, underscoring a zero-tolerance stance and calling for accountability that extended beyond arrests.Earlier, too, Paswan had cornered the Nitish Kumar-led establishment over deteriorating law and order, publicly expressing regret at having to support a government that appeared unable to curb crime. Such interventions, delivered while his party continued to share power at the Centre and in the state, have underscored a pattern, which is that the LJP(RV) remains inside the NDA tent but does not always speak in lockstep with its larger partners.On the reservation, Paswan has likewise taken positions that create clear blue water with sections of the alliance. He has repeatedly described caste-based quotas as a non-negotiable constitutional right rooted in social justice and the vision of BR Ambedkar, rejecting any talk of review, sub-categorisation or the introduction of a creamy layer within scheduled caste reservations. In a sharp clash with fellow NDA ally and Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi earlier this year, Paswan demanded that those advocating creamy-layer norms first resign from the benefits of reservation themselves. “Paswan’s stance reinforced his claim as a pan-Dalit voice while exposing fault lines with other NDA constituents pushing for internal restructuring of quotas,” remarked a social analyst, Rama Shankar Arya, a former professor of Danapur.Another retired professor of Patna University, Nawal Kishore Chaudhary, said, “Beneath these public interventions lies a longer political subtext. Party leaders have openly projected Paswan as a future chief ministerial face for Bihar, with organisational resolutions and public declarations framing him as the natural choice in the next assembly contest. Paswan himself has been careful to deny immediate personal ambition, framing such talk as the natural aspiration of workers and insisting that leadership decisions rest with the broader NDA. Yet the messaging—combined with his assertive interventions on issues of safety, reservation and institutional accountability—keeps the possibility alive without forcing an open rupture.” The poll panel must ensure that doubts about the electoral process do not take root among voters, Paswan said.“The Election Commission must maintain the trust of the people because if doubts arise in the public's mind about the electoral process itself, that would be wrong. In such a situation, the Election Commission should firmly put forth its points so that no doubts arise in the people's minds.” The ECI controversyThe comments follow an investigative report by The Indian Express which claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions taken by Gyanesh Kumar without their knowledge.ALSO READ | ECI postpones CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s 2 outreach events in UP, says no link to rowThe reported disagreements related to issues including voter registration and deletion, access to electoral-roll databases, changes to Form 6 and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.The two commissioners had, in some instances, questioned whether certain decisions had been taken without their knowledge and called some actions “unauthorised” and “illegal”, according to the report.The ECI has said that the reported differences in deliberations are part of institutional decision-making and maintained that its decisions were taken “unanimously.” The poll body also defended its digital systems, saying they operated under security protocols to prevent unauthorised manipulation of electoral data.Rahul Gandhi demands Gyanesh Kumar's resignationLok Sabha Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded Kumar's immediate resignation. He said the country's elections were “fundamentally broken” and that the controversy raised questions about the functioning of the electoral system.ALSO READ | CJP's nationwide protest from Oct 2 if CEC Gyanesh Kumar doesn't resign: Abhijeet DipkeHe also accused the CEC of undermining the constitutional and legal framework governing elections and asked Kumar to “turn approver”. Gandhi said the two Election Commissioners who raised objections had “come clean” and asked Kumar to consider cooperating with the allegations being raised against him.“I want to tell Gyanesh Kumar, you are a highly educated person: the thing that you have done is an act against India. This is an attack against legal structure and Constitution. We are not going to let democracy be destroyed,” Gandhi said. “The two ECs have done a wise thing. They have come clean. Gyanesh Kumar should think seriously and he should turn approver. That would be an act of nationalism,” he added.Gandhi also questioned why the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued to win elections despite the normal “political effect of anti-incumbency”. He said that the absence of anti-incumbency against the BJP raised questions about the electoral process.ALSO READ | Rahul Gandhi calls for Gyanesh Kumar's ouster, repeats 'vote chori' claim amid EC row: 'Elections being rigged'He also alleged that Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, industrialist Gautam Adani, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and PM’s principal secretary PK Mishra were involved in a conspiracy to manipulate elections.Gandhi also referred to his earlier opposition to Kumar's appointment as CEC and said that the process of selecting election commissioners must be independent of executive influence.‘Vote chori’ allegationsThe latest confrontation comes amid Rahul Gandhi’s long-running allegations against the ECI over electoral rolls.In 2025, Gandhi accused the poll panel of “vote chori” and alleged that voters were being deleted or bogus voters added in different constituencies. In September 2025, he alleged that Congress voters were targeted in Karnataka's Aland and thousands of voters were fraudulently added in Rajura in Maharashtra.The ECI rejected the allegations as “incorrect and baseless”. It said voter deletions could not simply be carried out online by members of the public and that the law required affected voters to be given an opportunity to be heard. The Commission also said it itself initiated an FIR in connection with the Aland matter in 2023.ALSO READ | 'No anti-incumbency for BJP, Modi': Rahul Gandhi intensifies attack on CEC Gyanesh Kumar amid rowAt the time, Gyanesh Kumar asked Rahul Gandhi to either substantiate his allegations of voter fraud through a sworn affidavit within seven days or apologise.BJP's response to Rahul GandhiThe BJP has now rejected Gandhi’s allegations and defended the ECI’s decision-making process.BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the decisions of the three-member Commission were taken unanimously and questioned the basis of reports about differences within the poll panel. “Rahul Gandhi said that anti-incumbency is an established truth of this country and it happened after the BJP came to power. I think that, politically speaking, Rahul Gandhi is devoid of wisdom and devoid of knowledge. He doesn't even know the political history of the country,” Trivedi said.Party national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari calling his press conference a “damp squib” and “Jhoot Ki Goonj”. On X, Bhandari rejected Gandhi’s remarks on the absence of anti-incumbency against the BJP and said the party lost 20 elections since 2014. “Did Congress under Nehru did ‘Vote Chori’, or does Congress win in Rae Bareilly 16 times in consectutive,” he wrote. “'Loktantra ki chor Congress' is frustrated as the Gandhi-Vadra family is democratically made to sit in Opposition by the people of India."Gaurav Gogoi detained over protestsAssam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi was detained on Friday during a protest in Guwahati demanding Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The Congress MP alleged irregularities in the Election Commission’s functioning and demanded legal action against Kumar.“Today, as people have come to know that Gyanesh Kumar Ji has committed a crime and committed an act of treason, he should resign today and legal action should be taken against him,” Gogoi told ANI.“Along with Gyanesh Kumar, the ones sitting behind him, their masters, Prime Minister Modi Ji and home minister Amit Shah Ji, should remember today that the country will not forgive them,” he added.CJP threatens protest on October 2National pressure group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has also demanded the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar and announced a nationwide protest if he does not step down by Saturday.CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said the party would begin its protest from Mumbai on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, and subsequently take the agitation to cities across the country.The announcement came after the party on Thursday gave Kumar a 48-hour deadline to resign over the allegations.