Congress takes anti-ECI protest to streets as pressure mounts on election chief Gyanesh Kumar

Congress workers took to the streets across India on Thursday in a coordinated nationwide protest targeting the Election Commission of India and its chief, Gyanesh Kumar. Demonstrators gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, as well as in Kolkata and Chandigarh, raising slogans against the election chief as part of what the party described as a broad-based agitation against the poll body.

The protests coincided with a petition filed in the Supreme Court seeking the prosecution of Gyanesh Kumar, adding a legal dimension to the political pressure already bearing down on the commission. The Election Commission, meanwhile, postponed two outreach conferences in Uttar Pradesh that had been scheduled around the chief's engagements, citing logistical constraints. The cancellations came against the backdrop of reported internal disagreements among commissioners.

Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan urged the Election Commission to act decisively to restore public confidence, warning that eroding trust in the electoral process posed a serious threat to democracy. He called on the commission to issue a more forceful clarification, though he suggested it was not obliged to respond directly to opposition leaders. The controversy has placed the poll body under sustained scrutiny at a politically sensitive moment.