The Opposition parties on Friday submitted a fresh notice in Rajya Sabha seeking a motion to remove Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on grounds of “proven misbehaviour”, said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh in a social media post.
The notice was signed by 73 MPs, Ramesh added.
“There are now nine specific charges against the [chief election commissioner] that have been documented in great detail and that simply cannot be denied or whitewashed away,” said the Rajya Sabha MP. “His continuation is an assault on the Constitution.”
On April 6, Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla rejected notices submitted by Opposition MPs seeking the removal of Kumar.
Radhakrishnan and Birla did not provide reasons for their decision.
The notices, submitted on March 12, were signed by 63 members of the Rajya Sabha and 130 Lok Sabha MPs, meeting the minimum requirement for such motions.
The removal process for the chief election commissioner follows the same procedure as that for judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts.
An impeachment motion is required to be signed by 100 Lok Sabha MPs or 50 Rajya Sabha members. If the motion is admitted in both Houses, a three-member committee investigates the matter. A vote is conducted in Parliament on the impeachment if the panel finds misconduct. If the motion gets two-thirds of the votes, the president is advised to remove the election commissioner.
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