A resolution calling for the removal of Gyanesh Kumar from the post of Chief Election Commissioner is set to be placed before the Kerala state Assembly on Monday by the Congress-led administration. No other state legislature in India had yet passed such a resolution when the Kerala Assembly took up the measure.

The Legislative Assembly bulletin lists V D Satheesan, in his capacity as Chief Minister, as the member set to table the motion. Monday marks the start of the 16th Legislative Assembly's second sitting period.

The proposal extends further than any of its forerunners. Among its demands are the removal of Kumar, the reinstatement of voting rights for eligible citizens removed from rolls once irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process have been addressed, and an overhaul of the method by which Election Commissioners are appointed.

Three demands are set out within the resolution's text. One calls for Kumar to be removed from the post of Chief Election Commissioner. A demand has also been put forward that any eligible voter stripped from the electoral rolls during the SIR process have their franchise restored once the identified irregularities in that process are addressed. A further call has been put forward for the body responsible for appointing Election Commissioners to be restructured, with three seats on the panel to be filled by the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

The resolution contends that questions about the Commission's impartiality have mounted to the point where replacing the Chief Election Commissioner is viewed as necessary to restore public confidence in the body. It also asserts that the use of technical procedures and administrative irregularities to limit access to the ballot for minority communities, migrants, marginalised groups, and younger voters amounts to a breach of democratic norms.

The petition further alleges that a substantial number of qualified voters were struck from the rolls through the SIR process. Kerala goes unmentioned in the text, despite the state having held its most recent Assembly elections after the process in question took place. Throughout the SIR process in the state, no objections were raised by either the Congress or the CPI(M) regarding the removal of eligible voters from the electoral rolls.

Of the Assembly's 140 seats, 102 are held by legislators belonging to the Congress-led United Democratic Front. Thirty-five assembly seats fall under the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front, while the BJP holds a total of three. Analysts note that passage of the resolution appears likely, given that both the Congress and the CPI(M) have aligned themselves with the broader national campaign calling for the CEC's removal.

On multiple occasions spanning many years, the Kerala Assembly adopted resolutions without a single dissenting vote, drawing support from both the CPI(M) and the Congress to secure passage. A resolution cleared the House that September.

A resolution calling on the Election Commission to reverse its nationwide rollout of SIR was put forward by the Left Democratic Front government in September of the previous year, when it still held office. That resolution was tabled under rule 118 of the Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Assembly by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The Kerala state legislature passed that resolution without a single member voting against it, making the southern state the first in the country to register formal opposition through such a vote. That resolution had noted that the Election Commission's decision on SIR drew concern about whether the exercise was functioning as a route to establishing the National Register of Citizens. A petition challenging the rollout of the Special Intensive Revision was subsequently filed by the Left Democratic Front government.