India poll chief battles calls to resign over voter-list claims

NEW DELHI: Opposition groups are demanding the resignation of India's election chief Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of widespread voter-list manipulation during the verification of the country's one billion voters. The calls come barely a month after US President Donald Trump praised Kumar, a former bureaucrat who took over as India's chief election commissioner in February 2025, for insisting that Indian voters prove their identity with photo ID, unlike in the US. Criticism of Kumar, who has denied all allegations, soared last week when the Indian Express newspaper said his two de facto deputies had raised at least 14 formal objections over 10 months to decisions related to voter rolls, registration procedures and the poll body's digital systems. Political analysts estimate that 130 million names have been struck off the voter list since the latest round of revisions began last year. Nearly 650 million people voted in the last national election in 2024. The opposition has long claimed that the government is trying to fix voter lists to its advantage and was quick to repeat the allegations following the Indian Express report. Government ministers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party and the poll body have all denied the charges. Kumar, 62, and the two other election commissioners have not commented, but the Election Commission said "differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberation in any institution". FILE PHOTO: Members of security forces stand guard at the entrance of Election Commission of India headquarters on the day of a protest by the supporters of India’s main opposition Congress party demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, in New Delhi. (Reuters) Protest threat The youth-led Cockroach Janta Party has threatened nationwide protests on Friday demanding Kumar's ouster, calling him the "biggest anti-national". The main opposition Congress party has said Kumar should be criminally prosecuted for treason. Kumar has defended the actions of the poll body and said at a press briefing last year: "For the Election Commission, there is neither an opposition nor a ruling side; everyone is equal." Kumar was riding high in sections of the Indian media last month when Trump praised him. But since the Indian Express report, graffiti has appeared near his ancestral home in northern India calling him a traitor. Kumar joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1988 after completing his B.Tech in civil engineering from an elite government college in his home state of Uttar Pradesh. He previously worked in the ministries of defence and interior affairs, and retired in January 2024. He was appointed as an election commissioner two months later, before becoming the chief. Kumar has had a troubled relationship with opposition parties from the very start of his tenure atop the election body. Opposition lawmakers tabled a motion to have him removed earlier this year but it was rejected by parliament.