Rahul Gandhi wants the Chief Election Commissioner’s head. BJP Arunachal Pradesh says that demand is built on nothing but hot air.
In a pointed press conference held at the BJP state headquarters in Itanagar on Sunday, party spokesperson Tobom Dai came out swinging in defence of the Election Commission of India, directly challenging the Congress leader’s September 24 call for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign. The trigger? The ongoing firestorm around the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of electoral rolls — a process that has put the Election Commission squarely in the political crosshairs in recent days.
Dai didn’t mince words. He argued that leaders holding constitutional positions — and Gandhi’s stature in Indian politics makes him exactly that kind of figure — have a responsibility to verify facts before lobbing allegations at institutions that underpin India’s democracy. “Political leaders must ground their statements in verified information and official records,” Dai said, essentially calling out what the BJP sees as reckless political point-scoring.
At the heart of Dai’s defence was the Election Commission’s own clarification, issued on September 26. Citing a report in The Indian Express, Dai pointed out that the ECI had clearly stated that CEC Gyanesh Kumar along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had approved decisions relating to the SIR as a full Commission — not unilaterally, not secretively. The clarification also addressed questions about communication sent to the Cabinet Secretary and the Form 6 process for voter registration, both of which had been the subject of speculation and opposition claims.
The question then, as Dai put it, becomes obvious — if the full Commission was on board, what exactly is the resignation being demanded for?
It’s a fair point, even if opponents won’t easily concede it. The SIR controversy has been messy and loud, with allegations flying about voter exclusions, procedural lapses, and internal rifts within the Commission. The ECI’s clarification, however, attempts to set the record straight on at least the question of whether the Commission was divided. Dai argued that this context matters, and that rushing to demand a top official’s resignation without accounting for it is political theatre, not accountability.
The BJP spokesperson went a step further, accusing the Congress of having a pattern of attacking constitutional bodies whenever election results don’t go their way. It’s an allegation the opposition has heard before — and one they fiercely reject. But with state BJP president Kaling Moyong and Arunachal Pradesh MP Tapir Gao both amplifying the same message on social media, it’s clear this is a coordinated response, not just one spokesperson going off script.
The party also made clear that genuine concerns about electoral rolls, voter inclusion, and SIR procedures are serious matters deserving serious engagement — through constitutional and legal channels, not through press conferences driven by unverified claims.
The SIR controversy is far from over, and the political battle around it will likely get louder before it gets quieter. But Sunday’s press conference sent a clear message from Arunachal’s ruling party — if you want to question the Election Commission, bring facts, not fury. Because at the end of the day, the credibility of India’s democratic institutions is too important to be traded away for a political headline.
