Guwahati Central

Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid has criticized the BJP-led central and Assam governments over voting rights, eviction drives and the NRC process. He was speaking at a press conference in Guwahati on October 3.

Khurshid said recent decisions inside Election Commission were taken unilaterally by Chief Election Commissioner. The dissent of two other commissioners was ignored. The matter is now before Supreme Court. Quoting Rahul Gandhi, he said no one is above the law, no matter how high a constitutional position they hold.

On evictions, he was blunt. He called the drives across Goalpara, Golaghat, Rengma Reserve Forest and Sonapur's Kachutoli sheer cruelty. Snatching away voting rights and then stripping people of citizenship is the ultimate blow to democracy, he said. He argued that denying voter registration to displaced people at relocated sites goes against Articles 14 and 21 of Constitution.

On NRC, Khurshid recalled it began under Tarun Gogoi with 1971 as the cut-off year. The final list came out in 2019 under Supreme Court supervision. But 31.1 million listed people still have not got National Identity Cards under Rule 13. Over 1.9 million excluded people are still waiting for rejection slips needed to file appeals. Any unilateral move to alter NRC would amount to contempt of Supreme Court, he warned.

He also raised data on police encounters in Assam. There were 171 encounters between May 2021 and August 2022. These led to 56 deaths, four custodial deaths and 145 injuries. Extrajudicial killings have no place in a society governed by rule of law, he said.

Khurshid dismissed the Uniform Civil Code as a diversionary tactic and urged unity within INDIA alliance. He also paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri on their birth anniversaries.

Assam-based organisation Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has announced a nationwide protest from October 2 demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The announcement was made during a media interaction in Guwahati by CJP National Spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka.

Ranka said the deadline for Kumar to step down has passed. "For 48 hours, the ball was in Gyanesh Kumar's court. Now, the ball is in CJP's court," he said, warning that the protest will continue until the CEC resigns.

CJP has also raised strong objections over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and has demanded changes in how the Election Commission of India works.

Ranka also alleged that the delimitation of Assembly constituencies in Assam was done in a way that helped Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. He claimed that constituency boundaries were redrawn specifically so Sarma could win the election.

Commissioners raised objections before

His remarks come after an investigation by The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections several times over decisions related to electoral-roll management and the SIR exercise. The Election Commission, however, denied any institutional breakdown.

The planned October 2 protest in Mumbai has already hit a problem after Mumbai Police denied permission for the demonstration. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has warned of a Jail Bharo Andolan if the organisation is stopped from using its right to protest.

Ranka himself was detained along with several CJP leaders in Guwahati ahead of a planned regional meeting. He was released later and said the incident would not stop the organisation from going ahead with its nationwide campaign.

Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi was detained by Assam Police in Guwahati on Friday during a protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Gogoi said the Election Commission has failed to protect the voter list and has attacked democracy. He asked for legal action against the CEC over problems in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

He said, "India is a democracy because of fair elections and the people's right to vote is secure. The Election Commission's only job is to keep the voter list safe, and they are not even doing that."

What triggered the protest

The protest started after a report by The Indian Express showed that two sitting Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had formally recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months about SIR procedures and database changes. The Election Commission rejected the idea that these objections show disagreement within the body. It said internal observations are normal in a multi-member constitutional body and final SIR decisions were unanimous.

Congress has started protests in several states against the Election Commission, with party leaders demanding Kumar's resignation and legal action over alleged irregularities in electoral-roll management.

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee has announced a protest march in Guwahati on September 25 against what it says are serious irregularities in how the Election Commission of India works and how Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has handled his role.

The march will start from the party headquarters and go straight to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Assam. Protesters plan to burn an effigy of the CEC and demand his immediate removal and arrest. The party also wants an independent high-level review of changes made to voter lists during his time in office.

What Led to This Protest

This agitation comes amid a political row over the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. A report published on September 23 said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections at least 14 times over a 10-month period. The objections were about new voter registration changes, voter deletions in West Bengal, and software problems affecting eligible voters in Goa. The Election Commission, however, has denied any split in decision-making. It said all decisions were made with the approval of all three commissioners.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the party have raised concerns about the electoral machinery several times. The party says the process is being manipulated to benefit the ruling BJP. Similar protest rallies are also planned outside district commissioner offices across Assam on September 28.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma publicly backed Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Thursday. He brushed off reports of internal disagreements within Election Commission of India over the Special Intensive Revision process.

Speaking in Guwahati, Sarma called opposition criticism an act of desperation. He pushed back on claims that the Chief Election Commissioner has been acting alone on key decisions. He pointed to Article 324 of the Constitution and Section 18 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, to back his point.

He made it clear that Election Commission is a collective body. All three commissioners hold equal voting power. The Chief Election Commissioner cannot overrule the other two if they jointly oppose a measure. So a unilateral final decision is legally impossible.

Sarma also took a dig at opposition parties. He called their attacks a political campaign against the constitutional framework itself. Targeting the Chief Election Commissioner only reflects opposition desperation, he said.

Elections for two Autonomous Councils in November

In a separate announcement, Sarma confirmed that elections for Mising Autonomous Council and Sonowal Autonomous Council will be held in November. Both elections will be conducted without party symbols.

Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) leaders have asked President Droupadi Murmu to look into Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. This request comes after reports showed that other Election Commissioners disagreed with poll panel decisions several times.

General Secretary Jagadish Bhuyan shared concerns about how independent the Election Commission really is. The party wants to go back to the old appointment process involving the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India, and the Leader of the Opposition. Also, AJP asked to swap Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for paper ballots. They believe recent election results in Guwahati and across the state did not match how people actually voted.

Concerns about election fairness

Party leaders asked why the ruling party is defending the Chief Election Commissioner. They believe this behavior makes people doubt if the voting process is neutral. AJP states that the right to vote is a basic legal right for every citizen that must be protected.