Jaipur: “If the vice-president can resign suddenly, why can’t Gyanesh Kumar? At least one chapter should close, and a new beginning should be made,” Congress veteran Ashok Gehlot said on Monday, calling for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to step down amid the controversy over the functioning of the Election Commission.
Gehlot was referring to former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar, who resigned from office on July 21, 2025, citing health reasons and the need to follow medical advice.
The former Rajasthan chief minister said the controversy surrounding the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise had raised serious questions about the credibility of the poll panel.
“Rahul Gandhi had said long ago that votes were being stolen and something wrong was happening, but nobody paid attention to what he was saying,” Gehlot said, referring to the Congress leader’s earlier allegations of “vote theft”.
Gehlot also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to consider the issue, saying the credibility of the Election Commission and India’s electoral system was at stake.
His remarks came amid a report by The Indian Express claiming that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders concerning the SIR exercise, which they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
Gehlot alleged that the controversy had raised questions about the poll panel’s impartiality.
“If the EC does not remain impartial, what will happen to democracy? And if there is no democracy, what kind of system would you want to run?” he asked.
He also alleged that the SIR exercise had removed the names of a large number of voters from electoral rolls, calling the issue “very serious” and urging the Centre to clarify its position.
“The row has reached a stage where Gyanesh Kumar must step down. If anything is left now, it is his resignation,” Gehlot said.
(With agency inputs from PTI)
