Bharat Ratna for Gyanesh Kumar, as questions mount over the ECI

The Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the Bharat Ratna for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, praising his leadership of the Election Commission of India and the conduct of the recent West Bengal Assembly election.

In its Sep 30 letter, NCPI president Jyotiprokash Chatterjee described Kumar’s tenure as an example of strong electoral administration and cited peaceful polling, voter-list revision and voter turnout as reasons for the proposed honour.

The request arrives at a particularly contested moment for the Election Commission.

In recent weeks, reports have emerged of disagreements within the three-member poll panel over decisions relating to electoral rolls, voter registration, database access and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.

An investigation by The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over a 10-month period, including concerns about decisions they said had been taken without their knowledge.

The Election Commission has disputed the suggestion of an institutional breakdown. Officials have said that decisions, including SIR, had the approval of all three commissioners, while the Commission has also issued point-by-point clarifications on some of the issues raised in the reports.

The dispute has now moved beyond political commentary. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition questioning the functioning of CEC Gyanesh Kumar and raising issues around whether powers vested in the multi-member Election Commission can be exercised individually. The petition also challenges aspects of the SIR process.

That backdrop gives the NCPI's Bharat Ratna request a notable context. The organisation's letter presents Kumar's stewardship of the ECI as evidence of institutional credibility, while the public debate around the Commission is currently focused on questions of internal decision-making, transparency and the management of electoral rolls.

The contrast does not by itself establish whether Kumar's record merits or does not merit the country's highest civilian honour. It does, however, highlight the very different assessments of his tenure that are emerging simultaneously.