Bhubaneswar, September 25, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Leader of Opposition in Odisha and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik on Friday demanded the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar amid reports of differences within the Election Commission of India (ECI) over decisions concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, new voter registration and voter data.
Speaking to the media, Patnaik said the reported differences between the CEC and the two Election Commissioners warranted Kumar’s resignation and a fresh review of the SIR exercise.
“Because of the strong and sharp differences between the two Election Commissioners and the Chief Election Commissioner, the CEC should immediately resign and the whole SIR process should be thoroughly revisited. The BJD has been against this SIR process from the beginning,” Patnaik said.
The demand came as the Odisha Congress planned a rally from Power House Square to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in Bhubaneswar, seeking Kumar’s removal.
The Congress decision followed a media report claiming that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had “objected on record” to several decisions taken by the poll panel without their knowledge.
At a press conference on Thursday, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) alleged irregularities in the electoral process and demanded Kumar’s removal through the impeachment process, besides calling for the scrapping of the SIR exercise.
Congress leader Arabinda Das alleged that a recent investigative media report had substantiated the concerns raised by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over what he has described as “vote theft”.
Das further alleged that the Modi government was using the Election Commission as a “weapon” to manipulate the electoral process.
He also alleged that Kumar was conducting a flawed SIR across the country in favour of the BJP government, thereby undermining the democratic system.
Das claimed that Sandhu and Joshi had raised objections to various decisions of the Commission on 14 occasions over the past 10 months, but alleged that the CEC ignored their objections.
“The fact that two members of the Election Commission have raised such serious objections against its head shows that the entire system has been compromised,” Das said. He framed these allegations as grounds for Kumar’s removal and a review of the SIR process.
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