New Delhi, March 27 The Trinamool Congress questioned on Friday why no action has been taken on the opposition's notice seeking a motion to remove Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the "inaction" shows a "tacit understanding" between the government and the Election Commission.
In their notice, the opposition MPs, 130 in the Lok Sabha and 63 in the Rajya Sabha, have accused CEC Kumar of "acting under the thumb of the executive", besides blaming him for "mass disenfranchisement" through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, and raising questions on his appointment.
The notice was submitted in both Houses on March 12, but there has been no response from the secretariats so far.
"There has been no movement on the notice submitted by the opposition parties against the CEC, making a mockery of Parliamentary democracy. You cannot sit on the notice and ignore it indefinitely," a senior Trinamool leader said.
"This reaffirms that there is a tacit understanding between the BJP government and the EC. We submitted the notice in both Houses on March 12, but nothing has been done so far. Are they waiting for the (Budget) session to end, and the results of Assembly polls to be announced?" the leader asked, calling the "inaction" an "insult of the opposition MPs".
The Trinamool leader also accused the Centre of making a mockery of Parliament.
"The government is holding meetings in conference rooms when Parliament is in session. We were not allowed to speak; only the prime minister delivered a monologue.
"The Trinamool took an in-principle stand not to participate in the meeting on the West Asia situation, because you don't do 'chai pe charcha' when Parliament is in session. Fewer Bills are being sent for scrutiny,” the leader claimed.
The opposition notice lists seven charges against CEC Kumar as grounds of “proved misbehaviour” to seek his removal.
Among them, the opposition has accused the CEC of “failure to maintain independence and constitutional fidelity” and “acting under the thumb of the executive”.
The charges also include the process of Kumar's appointment as the CEC, his “partisan” press conference on August 17, 2025, targeting Rahul Gandhi, “discriminatory treatment” of opposition and ruling party members, “obstruction” of investigations, refusal to provide “transparency tools”, and the execution of the SIR exercise “in alignment with the ruling party's political objectives”.
The charges refer to the CEC's selection process, saying it's the "subject of a pending constitutional challenge before the Supreme Court".
They also refer to the CEC's public ultimatum to Rahul Gandhi at a press conference, when, amid allegations of electoral fraud in the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in Karnataka during the 2024 general elections, Kumar asked Gandhi to either apologise or back his claims with a signed affidavit as required under electoral rules.