New Delhi: The Congress party alleged on Tuesday that the West Bengal assembly elections were a "text book case of mass manipulation and rigging" managed directly by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, insisting that whilst the "puppet" must step down, the "two puppeteers" must also be held to account.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh posted a screenshot on social media of a press report indicating that judges presiding over more than a dozen Tribunals in West Bengal, established following Supreme Court directions to hear SIR appeals, including those concerning 2.7 million removed voters, have pointed out major defects in a dedicated digital portal created by the Election Commission of India's IT division.

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Writing on X, Ramesh remarked, "More skeletons are tumbling out of the Election Omission of India's closet."

"Clearly the PM-HM (Narendra Modi-Amit Shah) strategy was to somehow capture and win the West Bengal Assembly elections at any cost. It was a text book case of mass manipulation and rigging which was overseen by the CEC," Ramesh said.

The puppet must naturally be removed, but the two figures pulling the strings must likewise face accountability, he noted, making an apparent reference to Kumar alongside Modi and Shah.

"They stand brutally exposed and now it is only a matter of time for them to meet their reckoning," Ramesh said.

The Congress leader added that parliamentarians from the INDIA opposition bloc, joined by invited fellow Opposition MPs, will undertake a peaceful march to the Election Commission of India headquarters on Tuesday to demand the Chief Election Commissioner's immediate resignation.

"Looks like the Parliament complex is already under an unprecedented security siege showing the extreme nervousness of the puppeteer pair," Ramesh said.

His statements follow a sharp escalation in opposition criticism against the CEC, coming a day after the Supreme Court clarified that it had given no sanction to alterations made to Form 6.

The Congress and allied opposition groups pressed for his immediate removal, contending that he compromised constitutional principles under instruction from the prime minister and home minister by unilaterally altering the form utilised for the SIR process.

A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V. Mohana noted: "We will examine all the decisions. If any decision is not in accordance with the law, we will annul it. You know the power of the court."

The bench added that "any modification to Form 6 has not been approved by us. Let's be clear. When records are produced, we would like to see who has modified it".

Form 6 serves as the official application through which eligible citizens request registration on the electoral rolls.

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The heightened opposition campaign unfolds alongside an escalating row stemming from a report by The Indian Express revealing that election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over the past 10 months regarding administrative orders and decisions, principally concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral lists.

Facing scrutiny over the internal objections noted by two of its commissioners, the Election Commission maintained that internal differences and recorded remarks are an integral part of institutional governance, asserting that all official orders carry full legal authority and observe established statutory protocols.

PTI