CEC executing 'G2's illegal orders' makes him liability for country: Cong

Jairam Ramesh's attack came a day after SC judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan remarked that any process that 'disenfranchises' citizens is 'intrinsically arbitrary' and 'negation' of the constitutional order

The Congress on Monday said Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar must quit right away and claimed that his ability to "execute G2's illegal orders" has now made him a "liability for the country".

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh's attack on the CEC came a day after Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan remarked that any process that "disenfranchises" millions of Indian citizens is "intrinsically arbitrary" and a "negation" of the constitutional order.

"No amount of whataboutery can justify it," Bhuyan added.

Sharing a post carrying the video clip of Bhuyan's remarks, Ramesh said on X, "Here is the bold Justice Ujjal Bhuyan speaking yesterday in NALSAR University in Hyderabad, where he exposed the CEC lock, stock and barrel. If he has any sense of shame, Gyanesh Kumar must quit right away." "His (Kumar's) ability to execute G2's illegal orders have now made him a liability for the country," Ramesh said. Ramesh often uses the term 'G2' to take a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

On Sunday, the Congress cited Justice Bhuyan's remarks on the right to vote and claimed his comment conclusively proves the CEC has violated the Constitution, in letter and spirit.

"Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, has been an outspoken champion of environmental protection," Ramesh had said on Sunday evening.

"Now the courageous jurist has forcefully expressed his view that the right to vote is very much part of the basic structure of the Constitution. This conclusively proves that the CEC -- constitutional functionary himself -- has violated the Constitution itself both in letter and spirit," he had said.

"Justice Bhuyan has said much more and has exposed the CEC lock, stock and barrel. Gyanesh Kumar has simply lost all moral right to continue in office," Ramesh had asserted.

The Congress' attack on the CEC comes days after The Indian Express reported that election commissioners Sandhu and Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on the Special Intensive Revision process that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.

Under fire over red flags raised by two of its commissioners, the EC has asserted that differing views and observations are a part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.

Justice Bhuyan, who delivered the valedictory address at the 19th Justice Bodh Raj Sawhney Memorial Moot Court Competition at NALSAR University of Law, said the Indian Constitution does not provide for two classes of citizens -- one with voting rights and the other without voting rights.

He said that any process which leads to wholesale disenfranchisement of Indian citizens, making them citizens without voting rights, would be violative of Articles 326 and 14 of the Constitution of India.

"If any process results in disenfranchising millions and millions of Indian citizens, making them second-class citizens in their own country in the sense of being citizens without a voting right, such a process is intrinsically arbitrary. No amount of whataboutery can justify it," he said.

"It strikes at the very heart of the Constitution, and I would go to the extent of saying that it is a negation of the Constitutional order which we have adopted based on the Constitution of India," he said.

Observing that Indian citizens' right to vote is intertwined with India's long years of struggle against foreign rule, he said it is a manifestation of freedom achieved after long struggle and sacrifice and Article 326 cannot be tinkered with at all.

"No authority can do it; no court can endorse it or condone it. No one is above the Constitution," he said.

Justice Bhuyan also said the right to vote or the right to be a voter is not a mere statutory right that flows from parliamentary legislation like the Representation of the People Act 1951, but a Constitutional right forming a distinct part of democracy itself. Thus positioning itself within the framework of the basic structure of the Indian Constitution.

Citing a Supreme Court order, he said the apex court observed that the right to vote of a citizen cannot be divorced or separated from the mandate of Article 326.