Kolkata, September 30, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging the Union government to confer the Bharat Ratna on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, NCPI president Jyotiprokash Chatterjee praised Kumar’s leadership of the Election Commission of India (ECI), particularly in connection with the recent West Bengal Assembly election.
The party cited what it described as peaceful polling, electoral roll revisions and voter participation as reasons for seeking the country’s highest civilian honour for the CEC.
The letter said the ECI’s functioning under Kumar had strengthened the electoral process and helped reinforce public confidence in India’s democratic system.
The NCPI also highlighted the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying the exercise was aimed at scrutinising voter lists and identifying entries considered ineligible under electoral law.
According to the letter, maintaining an accurate electoral roll was essential to ensuring that eligible citizens could exercise their right to vote and to strengthening the integrity of the electoral process.
The party further said that free and fair elections were fundamental to India’s constitutional system and credited Kumar’s leadership with upholding what it described as the independence, neutrality and discipline of the ECI.
The NCPI said recognising the CEC with the Bharat Ratna would also send a message to election officials across the country that dedication to fairness and integrity was valued.
The letter requested Prime Minister Modi to consider recommending Kumar’s name to President Droupadi Murmu for the Bharat Ratna.
Kumar assumed charge as the 26th Chief Election Commissioner of India in February 2025. The ECI’s official record states that he had earlier served as an Election Commissioner from March 2024 and was associated with elections including the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi.
The request comes amid continuing political and legal scrutiny of the ECI and the SIR exercise. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a petition challenging aspects of Kumar’s functioning and the SIR process, while opposition parties have also raised objections to the Commission’s handling of electoral rolls.
FOLLOW NOW
