Rahul Gandhi Says Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar Will Go to Jail for Treason

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi told a large INDIA bloc rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on November 1, 2026 that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar would be removed from office and sent to jail for treason. He repeated the claim at a symbolic “public impeachment” held the previous day at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence.

Gandhi said the alleged deletion of roughly 13.5 crore names from electoral rolls amounted to theft of the voice of every citizen. He called it the rarest of rare cases and an act of treason. He stated that the 2024 Lok Sabha election was illegal because the margin between the NDA and the INDIA bloc was only about 3 percent while one in every seven voters had been removed. He added that he fully supported the motion to impeach Kumar and that the CEC should be tried for treason in a court of law.

On October 31 the INDIA bloc held a symbolic public impeachment at 10 Rajaji Marg. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar presided. Kharge moved a resolution listing six charges. These included alleged manipulation of electoral rolls, changes to Form 6 without parliamentary oversight, control of rolls through ECINET, exclusion of the other two Election Commissioners from decisions, and acting at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. The resolution was seconded by Samajwadi Party MP Harendra Malik and adopted by a show of hands. Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other opposition leaders attended.

Gandhi told the gathering that the opposition already possessed enough evidence to ensure Kumar could not continue as CEC. He said that if the BJP retained him after the evidence was revealed, the party’s intentions would become clear. He described the symbolic proceeding as a political weapon aimed at those who, in his view, had colluded to destroy votes. He also said Modi and Shah would face legal action and should not expect to escape accountability.

The opposition has demanded Kumar’s resignation for months over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Earlier notices seeking his removal were submitted by 193 opposition MPs in both Houses but were rejected. Congress leaders have repeatedly used the term “vote chori” for the alleged irregularities.

The BJP dismissed the mock proceedings as a hallucination. No official response from the Election Commission to the specific jail claim was reported in the immediate coverage of the rally. Kumar has previously defended the revision process as a routine exercise to clean rolls.

The Ramlila Maidan rally formed part of the INDIA bloc’s “Chalo Dilli” and “Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao” campaign. Speakers included Akhilesh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee. Attendance figures were not independently verified in the first reports. Gandhi addressed the crowd from a vehicle and later from the stage, repeating the prediction that his statements about Kumar would prove correct.

The constitutional process for removing an Election Commissioner requires a motion in Parliament supported by a two-thirds majority in both Houses. The opposition currently lacks those numbers. The symbolic resolution carries no legal force. Gandhi’s public prediction that Kumar would go to jail rests on the claim that evidence of treason exists and will be presented.

The episode adds to a months-long confrontation between the opposition and the Election Commission over the integrity of voter lists ahead of future state and national elections. Subsequent steps by either side had not been announced as of November 2.