Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar Must Resign; Independent Constitutional Inquiry Must Examine Subversion of India’s Electoral Rolls: IAMC
WASHINGTON, DC — September 23, 2026
The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) today demanded the immediate resignation of India’s Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar following revelations published in The Indian Express newspaper that exposed a fundamental and grave threat to the world’s largest democracy and amount to a deliberate subversion of every Indian citizen’s constitutional right to vote.
IAMC also called for an independent constitutional inquiry at the highest level, constituted under the Office of the President of India and free of any interference or control by the Union government or the Supreme Court of India, to investigate the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and every decision taken in the Commission’s name.
For more than a year, voters, opposition parties, journalists and civil society have warned that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was being abused to strip tens of millions of Indians of their franchise. The Indian Express investigation has now revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, the two other members of the Commission, formally objected at least 14 times in 10 months to decisions taken during the SIR, several of which they say were made without their knowledge.
One of those decisions, a new requirement that voter applicants declare whether they, their parents or grandparents appeared on earlier rolls, was branded unauthorised and illegal by the Commissioners themselves. Over 130 Million names have been removed from India’s voter lists while this was taking place.
Responding to the revelations, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi called it an act of “treason” by the BJP, the RSS and the Election Commission.
“Under India’s Constitution, power belongs to the people, and the vote is how they exercise it,” said Mohammed Jawad, President of IAMC. “The Election Commission exists to protect that vote. When its chief manipulates who may vote and hides his decisions from his own colleagues, he is taking a power that belongs to the Indian people and handing it to those in power. That is a betrayal of the Republic itself.”
He said the burden of this subversion has fallen hardest on Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis, women and migrant workers. “The data already shows Muslims being struck off the rolls far beyond their share of the population, even when they have submitted every document asked of them.”
IAMC said the inquiry cannot be placed under the Chief Justice of India, who has aligned himself with the government and cannot be trusted to oversee an investigation into it.
IAMC calls for:
- The immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
- An independent constitutional inquiry at the highest level, constituted under the President of India, with full powers to examine the conduct of the SIR and the decisions taken in the Commission’s name, and free of any interference or control by the Union government.
- An immediate freeze on all SIR deletions until the inquiry concludes, and the restoration of every eligible voter wrongly removed from the rolls.
IAMC urged Indian citizens, parliamentarians across party lines, and democratic governments and institutions around the world to recognise the gravity of this moment and to press for accountability.
“The world’s largest democracy is being hollowed out from within its most important institution,” Jawad said. “Indian elections are being lost before a single ballot is cast. Mr. Kumar must go, and the truth must come out.”
