Kangpokpi: The political battle over alleged electoral manipulation reached Kangpokpi district on Sunday as the Sadar Hills District Congress Committee, SHDCC, held a district-level protest demanding the immediate arrest and removal of Chief Election Commissioner Shri Gyanesh Kumar. The protest was organized as per the directives of the All India Congress Committee, AICC, and the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee, MPCC, in the wake of explosive revelations about internal dissent within the Election Commission of India. A delegation of the SHDCC led by its President Dr. Lamtinthang Haokip met the District Election Officer, Kangpokpi, Shri Hemant Kumar, IAS, and submitted a formal representation addressed to the Honourable President of India seeking strong action against the CEC.
The Congress committee’s action comes after a report published by The Indian Express, one of the leading newspapers in the country, exposed what it described as an unprecedented rupture within the Election Commission. According to the report cited by the SHDCC in its press statement, two sitting Election Commissioners, Shri Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Shri Vivek Joshi, formally objected at least 14 times over the last 10 months to unilateral decisions taken by CEC Gyanesh Kumar. The objections, as per the expose, were officially recorded in the files of the Commission, indicating a deep institutional divide at the top of the country’s poll body.
The central point of contention flagged by the two Commissioners, as stated in the SHDCC statement, relates to the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of electoral rolls. The objecting Commissioners alleged that the CEC kept them in the dark regarding the planning and execution of the SIR exercise. The allegations include unauthorized addition of new voters, arbitrary deletion of names of genuine voters, and the centralization of the Election Commission’s IT system in Delhi, effectively bypassing state-level election officials and District Election Officers who are constitutionally mandated to oversee roll preparation and purification.
The SHDCC stated that this expose has vindicated the long-standing stand of the Indian National Congress and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Shri Rahul Gandhi, who for the past three years has been running a nationwide campaign against what the party calls Vote Chori. The Congress has consistently alleged that the electoral machinery was being captured, compromised and systematically manipulated to provide an unfair advantage to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The party said that the revelation of internal dissent now makes it crystal clear on record that the Election Commission has been run as a one-man show under the current CEC.
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According to the press statement issued from Kholep village, Motbung in Sadar Hills, Kangpokpi district, the Congress also referred to information obtained through Right to Information, RTI, applications which allegedly shows that no collective decision was ever taken by the full Election Commission to conduct the SIR throughout the states in the manner in which it is being implemented. This, the SHDCC argued, proves that the SIR drive was not an institutional decision but a unilateral move orchestrated at the top, leading to widespread irregularities, confusion and apprehension among voters in several states, including in Manipur’s hill districts.
In line with the position adopted by the AICC and MPCC, the Sadar Hills District Congress Committee has placed five specific demands before the President of India through the DEO Kangpokpi. The first and most prominent demand is the immediate removal of Shri Gyanesh Kumar from the office of the Chief Election Commissioner pending inquiry. The party said that allowing him to continue in office while serious charges of unilateralism and electoral manipulation are being investigated would undermine public confidence in the entire democratic process and the neutrality of the institution.
The second demand calls for an independent and impartial inquiry into all allegations concerning electoral roll revisions, voter registration, voter deletion, and related administrative decisions taken during his tenure. The SHDCC emphasized that the inquiry must be conducted by a body independent of the Election Commission, possibly under the supervision of the Supreme Court or a Joint Parliamentary Committee, to ensure that the truth about the addition and deletion of names, the process of SIR, and the alleged centralization of data is brought before the public.
The third demand seeks a comprehensive review of all electoral roll changes and decisions undertaken during the tenure of Shri Gyanesh Kumar as CEC. The party argued that lakhs of names are reported to have been deleted or added across states without proper field verification, and only a state-wise, booth-level audit can restore credibility. The fourth demand focuses on institutional reform, calling for concrete measures to ensure transparency, accountability, and public confidence in the functioning of the Election Commission of India, including restoration of collegial decision-making and decentralization of its IT infrastructure and data management.
The fifth and final demand states that if any wrongdoing is established through due process, appropriate legal and administrative action must be taken against all those responsible, irrespective of position. The SHDCC said in its statement that the Congress party, and the district unit in particular, believes that free and fair elections and transparent electoral processes are the very foundation of Indian democracy. Therefore, any concerns regarding the integrity and credibility of electoral processes must be thoroughly examined by competent authorities without delay, bias or political interference.
Concluding its representation, the SHDCC asserted that the Election Commission of India is constitutionally mandated to serve the interest of the Indian people, not to act as puppets of any political party. The statement ended with the slogans Jai Samvidhan, Jai Loktantra, Jai Hind, reaffirming the party’s commitment to constitutional values. Dr. Lamtinthang Haokip and his team handed over the memorandum to DEO Hemant Kumar, who assured them that the representation would be forwarded to the President’s office through proper channel. The development has added a new dimension to the ongoing national debate on electoral reforms and trust in institutions.
