Members of the Kerala Legislative Assembly voted on Monday to pass a resolution seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, citing concerns about the Election Commission's conduct of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, a news channel reported. Amendments were incorporated before the assembly adopted the resolution, which Chief Minister V D Satheesan had tabled for consideration. A trio of BJP legislators voted against the proposal.

Questions about whether voters had been removed from electoral rolls without stated criteria or advance notice were brought before the assembly as part of the resolution's basis for consideration. The resolution contended that flaws in the SIR process stood to remove voting access from groups including minorities, migrant workers, young people, and those from disadvantaged communities, a broadcast outlet reported.

Accounts of qualified voters being left off electoral registers — attributed to procedural irregularities and what was described as deliberate technical interference — drew a formal expression of concern from the assembly. The document additionally pointed to news coverage raising questions about whether the Election Commission had narrowed the authority of Electoral Registration Officers over voter-list preparation carried out through software platforms.

Among the points raised was a claim that Form 6 — the document through which voters seek placement on electoral rolls — had been altered in a manner that contravened the rules then in force. Included in the resolution were references to accounts indicating that a number of Election Commission members had voiced internal opposition to the actions in question.

The resolution put forward a call for the Election Commission to take remedial steps over reported discrepancies in voter rolls, with a view to reinstating the franchise for every eligible person whose name had been left off the lists. The statement called for the Election Commission, as a body established under the constitution, to carry out its duties free from governmental pressure and without favouring any side.

The resolution warned that tampering with voter registration data risked eroding trust in how elections are run, with potential consequences for the broader foundations of democratic governance. Among its provisions, the document urged that the panel tasked with appointing the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners be reformed and reconstituted.

The plan envisions a trio of officials forming the selection body — the Prime Minister, the Lok Sabha's Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India — with those details reaching the public through a broadcast from an established news organisation. The resolution pointed to two structural features of the appointment process — the absence of the Chief Justice of India from the selection committee and adjustments to that panel's membership — as sources of doubt about whether appointments could be made without partiality.

Amendments put forward by BJP MLA V Muraleedharan at the time of debate called for the resolution to incorporate the Election Commission's reply to reports about alterations to Form 6. A clause denouncing efforts by outside interests to undermine the credibility of the Election Commission — a body established under the constitution — was among the additions he put forward.

The resolution called on both the Election Commission and the Central Government to pursue the removal of the Chief Election Commissioner, with questions about the body's neutrality cited as the grounds, according to a broadcast news outlet. The statement described those measures as intended to uphold voting entitlements enshrined in Article 326, defend constitutional principles, and keep democratic governance intact.