New Delhi, Oct 29: Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar will preside over the exercise of the public impeacgment of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge initiating the proceedings and former party chief Rahul Gandhi making the concluding remarks before the ‘motion’ is adopted, sources said
On Thursday, the coordination committee of the INDIA bloc for November 1 public meeting titled ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao’ met at the residence of Kharge at 10 Eajaji Marg and discussed the preparations of the same.
Leaders from INDIA bloc who attended the meeting included Meira Kumar, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Badra, Rajya Sabha MPs Jairam Ramesh, Syed Naseer Hussain, Pawan Khera, JMM leader Mahua Majhi, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien, RJD leader Abhay Kushwaha, Samajwadi Party MP Harendra Malik, Left party MP John Brittas among others.
During the meeting, the source said that the leaders discussed that they don’t need to call it mock Parliament as they will be doing tbe public impeachment of Gyanesh Kumar.
The source said that it was then decided to call it ‘public impeachment of Gyanesh Kumar’.
“Since opposition does not want it to make the mockery of the parliament in anyways so instead of calling it a mock parliament it will be called Public impeachment of CEC Gyanesh Kumar,” the source said.
The source also stated that Meira Kumar will chair the INDIA bloc’s ‘public impeachment’ of Gyanesh Kumar on Friday, that will be also held at Kharge’s residence.
He said that Kharge will move the ‘motion’ to impeach Gyanesh Kumar, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will make the concluding remarks before the ‘motion’ is passed.
Besides the members from all the INDIA bloc parties, the members.of the civil society and SIR exercise victims will also be there.
While one represntative from each party will speak during the public impeachment motion.
On Wednesday, Congress general secretary and communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh had said that having been denied other locations, the ‘INDIA janbandhan’ will be holding the public impeachment of Kumar at Kharge’s 10, Rajaji Marg residence at 3.30 pm on October 30.
‘The CEC has demonstrably violated the letter and spirit of the Constitution. He has systematically subverted the very foundations of our electoral democracy. He has, to put it bluntly, lied to the Supreme Court,’ Ramesh had said on X.
‘He has been the willing executioner on behalf of the Diabolical Duo whose turn will come next,'” he had added.
On Tuesday, the Congress had claimed it was denied permission to hold the ‘public impeachment’ of the CEC at the Hotel Ashoka and at Ramlila Maidan.
The Congress had accused the government of trying to silence the voice of common people after ‘destroying’ the electoral system.
The Congress and other opposition parties have been demanding the resignation of Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.