NPCC JOINS NATIONWIDE DEMAND FOR CEC’S RESIGNATION, FLAGS DELAY IN NAGA POLITICAL SETTLEMENT
KOHIMA, Sept 25 (NEPS) — The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has joined Opposition parties across the country in demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that he took decisions without consulting the other two Election Commissioners.
This was stated at a press conference jointly addressed by former Congress MP C Apok Jamir and NPCC president and Congress MP S Supongmeren Jamir at the Congress Bhavan here today.
Apok Jamir linked the protests against Kumar by the Congress and other Opposition parties to an investigation by The Indian Express, which reported an internal rift within the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
According to the investigation, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally objected at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders which, they said, had been taken without their knowledge. The objections reportedly covered voter registration and deletion, changes to Form 6, access to voter databases and electoral-roll software.
The Election Commission has maintained that such internal queries are part of its administrative processes and that decisions on SIR were taken unanimously.
Alleging that Kumar’s conduct was illegal, Apok Jamir said the three Election Commissioners were equals and that Kumar could not take decisions arbitrarily. “He has to take decisions in consultation with the other two commissioners, which he hasn’t done,” he said.
“Therefore, the Congress demands on moral grounds that he should step down. This is not only a demand of the Congress party but also all the right-thinking leaders in the country, because this has infringed upon the political and democratic process of the country,” he said.
Turning to the Naga political issue, Supongmeren Jamir said the NPCC did not want to see any further delay in its settlement.
He noted that talks between the Government of India and the Naga groups had concluded in 2019, as declared at the time by the then interlocutor R N Ravi, who was also Governor of Nagaland. He said there was no need for further negotiations and urged the Government of India to immediately implement a settlement of the Naga political issue, with the inclusion of all groups.
