Ajay Rai calls Gyanesh Kumar corrupt, demands repoll of Varanasi LS seat where PM won

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai on Saturday demanded the arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) row, calling him a "corrupt and dishonest person". He also sought the cancellation of the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Varanasi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi won, and demanded that the poll be held again.

Rai alleged that Kumar helped rig the election to ensure the BJP's victory. His remarks came amid Opposition criticism after a news report claimed that Kumar ignored objections raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi on 14 occasions in 10 months over decisions and orders linked to the SIR exercise.

Speaking to reporters in Agra, Rai said, "Gyanesh Kumar is a corrupt officer and a dishonest person. He is the one who orchestrated a fraudulent election victory. He ensured (PM) Modi's win by rigging the election across the entire state, and he continues to aid the BJP and PM Modi. The person who helped form the (BJP) government did so by stealing our votes, by resorting to dishonesty."

He added, "He should be arrested, and the (2024 Lok Sabha) election in Varanasi must be cancelled. A re-election should be held. Elections in the states where voting took place during Gyanesh Kumar's tenure should also be cancelled and re-conducted. This is our demand."

Rai had contested the Lok Sabha polls in Varanasi against Modi and lost by 1,52,513 votes. Kumar, a 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the Kerala cadre, was appointed as election commissioner on March 15, 2024, after his retirement. He later took charge as the 26th Chief Election Commissioner on February 19, 2025.

The Election Commission has said that differing views and observations are a normal part of institutional deliberations. It has maintained that its orders have full legal sanction and follow statutory procedures.

Apart from Rai, other Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh also questioned the conduct of the Election Commission.

Congress MLA Aradhana Mishra 'Mona' and party national spokesperson Abhay Dubey raised questions over changes to the process of selecting election commissioners under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, which received the President's assent on December 28, 2023.

Earlier, under Article 324(2) of the Constitution, the Chief Election Commissioner and the two election commissioners were selected by a committee comprising the prime minister, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and the chief justice of India.

On the committee's advice, the President would appoint the election commissioners. The 2023 Act replaced the Chief Justice of India in the selection committee with a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister.

Congress leaders questioned the exclusion of the CJI, saying that on March 2, 2023, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice KM Joseph had unanimously backed the earlier selection process. They also referred to Kumar's appointment as the CEC and the note of dissent filed by Rahul Gandhi on February 19, 2025.

Abhishek Dubey claimed that Gandhi, in his dissent note, objected to excluding the CJI from the selection committee, saying that it ran counter to the spirit of the Supreme Court's 2023 verdict. Dubey also said Gandhi had cited various inconsistencies within the rules.

Citing the report on the alleged differences within the Election Commission, the Congress leaders asked why those objections were not addressed.

Highlighting what they called discrepancies in the SIR process, the Congress said the key issue was not merely the Election Commission's authority to conduct the exercise, but also the transparency, adherence to statutory procedures and institutional consensus involved in decisions affecting electoral rolls.