Union minister Chirag Paswan has called on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to clarify his position in the wake of investigation, which revealed an unprecedented internal rift within the three-member Election Commission of India (ECI).

Paswan said the responsibility to assure the people of India of a free and fair electoral process lay with the CEC. “If questions are being raised on Election Commission, which is an independent constitutional body, responsibility lies with CEC to present his stance clearly. It is problematic if people begin to doubt electoral process itself. The EC needs to present its stance, not to Rahul Gandhi, but to public,” he said.

VIDEO | Patna, Bihar: If questions are being raised on Election Commission, which is an independent constitutional body, responsibility lies with CEC to present his stance clearly. It is problematic if people begin to doubt electoral process itself. EC needs to present its… pic.twitter.com/mGCCJy0VSw

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 25, 2026

The investigation, based on internal notes and letters from October 2025 to August 2026, found that the other two Election Commissioners— Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi — formally recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months against major decisions pushed under CEC Gyanesh Kumar.

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Paswan said it didn’t matter what the Opposition said; but it was necessary for the Election Commission to dispel all doubts from the minds of the people.

Elections rigged, says Rahul Gandhi

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday that “all elections” were being “rigged” in the country. “Our elections are fundamentally broken. The sacred belief in elections is dying. If tomorrow, the BJP sweeps elections, no one will believe it,” he said.

Referring to  report, Gandhi showed video clips of speeches by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in which they say the BJP will remain in power for a long time. “I come from a political family. No political leader can say or make such statements. In India, there is a force called anti-incumbency… It doesn’t spare anybody. Indira Gandhiji won the Bangladesh war. And within a year or two, massive anti-incumbency… The same happens to leader after leader. For some reason, it doesn’t happen to Narendra Modi, Mr Shah, BJP,” he said.

Gandhi recalled how the Prime Minister and the Home Minister bypassed his opinion to elevate Gyanesh Kumar as the CEC. Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi were appointed under a 2023 Act by a selection panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.