Nagaon | Congress leader and Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain   alleged irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and sought the immediate suspension of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Addressing a press conference at Rajiv Bhawan in Nagaon, Hussain referred to a September 23 report by The Indian Express that said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions taken by the poll panel. The reported objections covered issues including electoral roll management, changes to Form 6 and access to the voter database.

Hussain said the reported differences within the three-member Commission reinforced the Congress’s concerns over the electoral process. “There are three Election Commissioners and the opinion of all three matters. If two opinions are the same and one is different, the majority opinion is supposed to prevail,” he said, alleging that Kumar had taken decisions contrary to the views of the other two commissioners.

The Congress leader linked the issue to the party’s earlier allegations of “vote chori” and raised questions over the deletion of names from electoral rolls. He cited figures of around 27 lakh and 65 lakh voters while making his allegations.

“We demand the immediate suspension of Gyanesh Kumar. Wherever discrepancies have occurred and votes have been cancelled, those votes should be brought back. New elections should be conducted wherever necessary,” Hussain said.

The Election Commission, however, has rejected reports of internal disquiet, with officials saying that decisions relating to the Special Intensive Revision and other matters had the approval of all three commissioners. Hussain also reiterated Congress allegations concerning the conduct of preparations for the Nagaon bypoll and the role of former Nagaon district commissioner Devasish Sharma.

He claimed the Congress had raised objections before the bypoll over the manner in which election preparations were being handled. According to Hussain, the party would not have objected if Sharma had resigned from his administrative post before entering politics.

“If he wanted to enter politics, he could have resigned three months earlier. We would not have had any objection. Our objection is to what happened when preparations for the elections were underway,” he said. Hussain also referred to the September 21 incident in Samaguri and alleged that Congress leaders had alerted election and police authorities about the possibility of an attack on party workers.

He said the party had informed the returning officer about the alleged threat and was assured that adequate patrolling would be arranged. Hussain claimed he later contacted the Superintendent of Police and Additional SP Rosy Talukdar before proceeding towards the area where the clash took place.

“We informed the returning officer that we had received information that we would be attacked in Barma. He assured us that steps would be taken,” Hussain said.

He further alleged that the subsequent police questioning was being conducted in a manner that could divert attention from those responsible for the alleged attack.

The Congress has continued to raise questions over the electoral process ahead of the Nagaon bypoll, while the Election Commission has maintained that its decisions were taken with the approval of the full Commission.