24 September,2026 02:56 PM IST | New Delhi | mid-day online correspondent
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut has threatened impeachment proceedings against CEC Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral irregularities. File pic
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday targeted Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI), saying the Opposition would initiate impeachment proceedings against him in Parliament.
Raut also demanded that Kumar be booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), alleging that the CEC was acting at the behest of the Central government.
Raut criticised what he described as unilateral changes to Voter Registration Form 6 and questioned the rationale behind seeking information about voters' ancestors.
"Gyanesh Kumar has altered Form 6 to ask whether voters' grandfathers and great-great-grandfathers were alive. We ask him in return - do you even know who your own ancestors were?" he charged.
He alleged that Kumar had lost the moral right to occupy a constitutional office and accused him of acting under the direction of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
"Gyanesh Kumar is a constitutional mafia who acts on the orders of his boss, Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He is the Home Minister's 'Chhota Shakeel' - a political sharpshooter killing democracy. We will collect signatures from MPs across parties to initiate impeachment proceedings and demand that he be prosecuted under MCOCA for organised electoral fraud."
Raut alleged that recent electoral victories of the BJP and its allies in Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal were the result of voter fraud allegedly orchestrated by Kumar.
He reiterated the demand, attributed to Opposition leaders Uddhav Thackeray, Mamata Banerjee and Tejashwi Yadav, for those elections to be scrapped and fresh polls held.
Raut also urged Opposition parties to launch a wider campaign against what he described as electoral irregularities.
Earlier, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray had demanded Kumar's immediate arrest.
Thackeray accused the CEC of acting as the "kingpin of a gang" that was allegedly undermining democracy and engineering splits in political parties at the behest of the Central government. He also sought fresh elections in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
"The internal whistleblowing by Election Commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu has exposed how arbitrary this administration was," Thackeray stated, commending the commissioners for showing courage.
"The media and the public must break free from fear. When democracy is being openly murdered by a gang of political dacoits, the citizens and the press must stand up to safeguard the constitution," he added.
"Today, the unmasked face of Gyanesh Kumar stands exposed before the nation. He is the principal mastermind of the gang that breaks political parties, steals party names, and murders democracy. He must be thrown into prison immediately," he further asserted.
(With inputs from IANS)
