The appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner of India has intensified hostilities between the Central government and the Opposition. After Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav expressed his displeasure over the appointment.

Reacting to the appointment despite Rahul Gandhi’s dissent, the leader of the Opposition in the Bihar assembly said people have lost confidence in the Election Commission of India. In the eyes of common citizens and voters, the Election Commission failed to address the questions, doubts and complaints raised by the people and the Opposition parties.

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Raising questions over the Election Commission’s impartiality, the RJD leader said elections are like matches played between political parties and the Election Commission’s role should be that of an umpire or a referee. “Forget about being a referee or an umpire, the Election Commission is no longer a spectator. It has become BJP’s cheerleader. The Election Commission is becoming a cancer for democracy and the Constitution,” he added.

Raising concerns over impartiality of the commission, he recalled the experience of the Bihar assembly elections in 2020. “On the day of the results of the Bihar assembly elections in 2020, the Election Commission held three press conferences in a day. Counting of votes was stopped for hours. The results were announced late at night,” he said.

He also raised doubts about the EVMs, saying, “Whenever our government will be formed at the centre, we will remove EVMs despite winning.”