25/09/2026
CITU DEMANDS RESIGNATION OF CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONER
RESPONSIBLE FOR DISENFRANCHISING & DISENTITLING WORKING PEOPLE
Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) demands immediate resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, responsible for the disenfranchisement and disentitlement of working people due to the ongoing SIR. The shocking revelations in the investigative report of The Indian Express dated 23.9.2026 throw light on the way the Election Commission of India is functioning in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), contrary to the law laid down, and how 14 objections in the last 10 months raised by the other two Election Commissioners were overruled by the Chief Election Commissioner.
The issues of centralisation of the electoral rolls database, the ECI net system being non-accessible to field officers, unauthorised appeals by the ECI to the tribunals against the claims of disenfranchised voters in West Bengal and other aspects raised by the Election Commissioners only throw light on the state of affairs that has led the SIR to the disenfranchisement of crores of people, most of them working people across the nation in various states. The majority of the victims are poor, marginalised and mostly migrant workers who are made to wander here and there to enrol as voters, losing their earnings for no fault of theirs.
The recent pronouncements of some Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States on disentitling people who are not on the electoral rolls from the benefits of government schemes depict the danger of linking disentitlements with the ongoing SIR-led disenfranchisement. The provisions of the Labour Codes making identity cards prescribed by the Central Government mandatory for enrolling and availing social security benefits under the Social Security Code reveal the dangers of the probable prescription of the EPIC card as identity proof in place of the prevailing Aadhaar Card, which shall potentially push all those out of the electoral rolls out of the meagre social security net that exists.
The SIR-led disenfranchisement will not only take away the right to vote and universal adult franchise and undermine democracy under the Constitution, but shall also disentitle the mass of working people. The CEC Gyanesh Kumar, who is responsible for the disenfranchisement and disentitlement of working people at the behest of the Modi-led BJP Government at the Centre, must resign immediately, if not, he has to be sacked for this treacherous act against the people of India. CITU demands appropriate legal action to be initiated against Gyanesh Kumar and all those responsible, if the reported violations and irregularities are established. The ECI must be constituted as per the law laid down by the Supreme Court of India. The ongoing SIR must be halted and those eligible disenfranchised mass of people must be included in the electoral rolls.
Issued by,
(ELAMARAM KAREEM)
General Secretary
