The Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) today intensified its campaign against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, staging a protest at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Manipur, at Lamphelpat and demanding his immediate arrest and removal.
Congress workers marched towards the CEO office and attempted to enter the premises, triggering a confrontation with security personnel. Security forces subsequently fired tear gas shells to disperse the protesters.
The agitation was held in response to the Congress’s nationwide protest call over alleged irregularities in electoral-roll revisions and other decisions of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Addressing the protesters, MPCC president and former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh questioned the functioning of the poll panel and alleged concentration of decision-making powers in the hands of the CEC.
The protest comes amid reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections on several occasions over electoral-roll revisions, voter deletions and data-handling procedures.
The ECI has rejected suggestions of a split within the three-member Commission, maintaining that differing views are part of internal deliberations and that decisions taken over the past year, including those concerning the Special Intensive Revision, were unanimous.
The Congress has announced another round of protests at district collectorates on September 28.
