Opposition plans to submit another impeachment notice against CEC Gyanesh Kumar

New Delhi: Opposition is planning to submit a second notice seeking removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, days after the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman rejected notices accusing the poll body chief of “partisan and discriminatory” conduct.

Sources said the parties were working on the notices to be submitted in the next couple of days. They said a decision on whether to submit in Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha or both is yet to be taken and accordingly signatures will be collected.

The Opposition plans to get signatures of at least 200 MPs from Lok Sabha and around 80 in Rajya Sabha for the fresh notices in a bid to make a “statement”, even as their previous notices were rejected on April 6 on various grounds.

The Constitutional requirement for notice seeking removal of CEC is 100 signatures in Lok Sabha and 50 in Rajya Sabha. In the notices submitted on March 12, which were steered by Trinamool Congress, the Opposition had 130 signatures in Lok Sabha and 63 in Rajya Sabha.

Sources said the Opposition also mulled the option of approaching the High Court but the Constitution clearly stipulates that the removal process of a CEC will be the same as that of the impeachment of a Supreme Court judge and High Court judges.

While the Opposition does not have numbers in both the Houses, the latest move is seen as another attempt ahead of the polling in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal later this month. The Opposition has accused Kumar of being hand in glove with the BJP besides facing criticism for the Special Intensive Revision.

Kumar had become the first of the 25 CECs to see an impeachment notice submitted in Parliament in the past 74 years though some parties attempted such an exercise against TN Seshan in 1991 while NDA presented a memorandum seeking dismissal of Naveen Chawla in 2006.

The Opposition had sought removal of Kumar citing seven charges, including flawed appointment, partisan conduct, obstruction of investigation of electoral fraud, objections against Bihar SIR and subsequent nationwide exercise, contempt of Supreme Court directions and failure to maintain independence and Constitutional fidelity.

The notices were rejected with Speaker Om Birla and Chairman CP Radhakrishnan, claiming that it “lacks proof necessary to constitute misbehaviour” and “do not prima facie meet the high Constitutional bar” for removal proceedings.