NEW DELHI: The joint opposition stepped up its attack on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar as it gathered signatures from MPs to submit a notice this week to the secretariats of both Houses of Parliament to seek a motion for his removal. This is the first time a notice — will be given seeking the removal of the CEC.The notice — piloted by TMC — will be submitted to the Speaker of Lok Sabha and Chairman Rajya Sabha through the secretary generals of the respective Houses. The nearly half a dozen charges in the notice seeking removal of CEC, according to sources, range from partisan conduct of the CEC to mass disenfranchisement of voters. MPs of all INDIA bloc parties and even Aam Aadmi Party which is not part of the bloc have signed the letter, sources said. It is likely to be submitted on Thursday itself in all likelihood but not later than Friday, sources said.Till late on Wednesday evening around 120 MPs had signed the notice to be submitted to the Lok Sabha, and around 60 MPs had signed the notice to be submitted in the Upper House.As per the procedure, at least 100 MPs must sign a notice seeking the removal of the CEC in the Lower House and the required number is 50 for Rajya Sabha.The notice seeking removal of CEC follows growing accusations from the opposition parties against Kumar. TMC has been demanding a notice for removal of CEC Kumar for a few months with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Lok Sabha MP and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee raising the issue repeatedly while leading protests over the SIR process in the state gearing up for assembly polls. They have accused the CEC of bias and carrying out ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in an arbitrary manner in a bid to aid the BJP. The West Bengal CM had said in February while addressing a press conference asserted that she was all for the removal of the CEC and said she was willing to join hands with the Congress and other opposition parties to rally support on the issue.“We do not have numbers, but there is a provision for removal of CEC. At least our stance will be recorded. If they (Congress) will do something like this then we will also take our party MPs into confidence,” she had said.Though there was no immediate agreement on the demand from other allies, the INDIA block was seen stepping up to act before the budget session resumed on Monday. On Saturday, TMC announced that it will support the motion for removal of Birla in the House, even though it had not signed the opposition notice for removal of Birla when it was submitted in the first half of the budget session citing that it would have wanted the opposition to write to the Speaker first and give him time for corrective action before moving a notice.On Monday, in the INDIA block strategy meeting in the office of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in Parliament, TMC raised the issue to reiterate the demand for submitting a notice for seeking removal of CEC. On Wednesday, even as the opposition’s notice for removal of the Speaker was defeated by voice vote in Lok Sabha, the joint opposition gathered signatures of MPs from both Houses to reinforce the strong alignment of INDIA bloc against the CEC and in the process against the BJP.The process for removing the CEC is similar to that for the removal of a Supreme Court judge and only on “grounds of proven misbehaviour or incapacity”.According to the Judges (Inquiry) Act of 1968, once a motion to remove a judge is admitted in any of the Houses, the Speaker or the Chairman, as the case may be, will constitute a three-member committee to investigate the grounds on which the removal has been sought.As per the rule, once the committee submits its report, it will be tabled in the House, and discussions will start to impeach. The motion to remove a judge, and in this case the CEC, will have to be passed by both Houses. It must be passed by a special majority — a majority of the total membership of the House and a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting.Given that the BJP alliance has the majority in the two Houses makes the opposition’s move a non-starter but allows the opposition to register its joint protest against the CEC.
