(MENAFN- IANS) New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) In a blistering indictment of the Election Commission of India, leaders of the INDIA Bloc have accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of abandoning constitutional neutrality and acting as a political mouthpiece for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

The opposition's charges follow a“controversial press conference” held by the CEC on Sunday, which they claim was riddled with evasions, partisan rhetoric, and a conspicuous silence on grave electoral irregularities.

Addressing a joint press conference at the Constitution Club here, INDIA Bloc leaders, including Gaurav Gogoi, Mahua Moitra, Sanjay Singh, Manoj Jha, Ram Gopal Yadav, Tiruchi Siva, Arvind Sawant, and John Brittas, expressed deep concern over what they described as the“institutional collapse” of the Election Commission's credibility.

Gogoi accused the CEC of dodging every substantive question, including the Supreme Court's August 14 order that rejected the Commission's attempt to block the release of data on 65 lakh deleted voters in Bihar.

The leaders cited multiple unresolved issues: unexplained addition of 70 lakh voters in Maharashtra within five months, deletion of 42,000 votes in New Delhi before the Assembly polls, and the refusal to accept Aadhaar as a valid identity proof. Rahul Gandhi's allegations of voter fraud in Mahadevapura (Karnataka) were not met with investigation, but with a demand for an affidavit-despite the precedent of 18,000 affidavits submitted by the Samajwadi Party in 2022, which remain unaddressed.

Mahua Moitra lambasted the CEC's conduct as“a shameful display of puppetry,” urging him to leave political attacks to his“masters.” Manoj Jha suggested the timing of the press conference was deliberately chosen to distract from the launch of the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar, led by Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav.

The INDIA Bloc is now reportedly considering an impeachment motion against the CEC, a move symbolically potent, but it faces formidable constitutional hurdles.

Removal of the CEC requires a two-thirds majority in both Houses of Parliament-an unlikely feat given the ruling alliance's numerical strength.

Nonetheless, the opposition insists that the motion is not merely procedural but a moral imperative.

“The Election Commission is not synonymous with the Constitution-it is born of it,” Jha said.“And it must not be allowed to shred the very document that gives it legitimacy.”

As the nation inches closer to critical elections, the INDIA Bloc's confrontation with the Election Commission has escalated from protest to constitutional challenge. Whether the CEC can restore public trust-or whether the institution itself is now under siege-remains a defining question for Indian democracy.

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