In a move that perfectly captures the spirit of Indian democracy, 193 elected representatives signed a motion to remove the Chief Election Commissioner for partisan conduct — and both houses of Parliament rejected it with identical one-line bulletins offering zero explanation. The democratic remedy for an unaccountable official was itself conducted unaccountably.
For the first time in Indian democratic history, 193 MPs — 130 from Lok Sabha and 63 from Rajya Sabha — filed notices to impeach Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of "proved misbehaviour" and partisan conduct, including a memorable incident where Kerala's chief electoral officer distributed an ECI guideline bearing the BJP logo (officially a "clerical error"). The motion was filed on March 12 and sat in bureaucratic purgatory until April 6, when Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan rejected it in virtually identical bulletins. The reason provided? None. TMC MP Sagarika Ghose noted that a detailed notice listing exact rules and factual examples of misconduct was dismissed with a "tersely worded reply." So to summarize: the institution responsible for free and fair elections is accused of bias, the constitutional mechanism to address it is invoked by nearly 200 legislators, and the gatekeepers simply say no and walk away. Democracy functioning exactly as designed.