The development comes alongside the no-confidence notice already submitted against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, raising the prospect of simultaneous challenges to two top constitutional functionaries.
Sources told TOI that the impeachment notice against Kumar is likely to be submitted for the post-recess Budget session beginning in the second week of March. The demand has been pushed strongly by the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). Until recently, other opposition parties had kept their distance from the move.
In a sign of shifting political calculations, INDIA bloc allies now appear willing to back Trinamool’s demand — a step seen as an attempt to appease Mamata Banerjee and reinforce opposition unity. The move could also help consolidate support for the removal notice against Birla when it comes up in March.
Notably, TMC did not sign the removal notice against the Speaker that the INDIA bloc recently moved, though it maintained it was not opposed to the step in principle. A senior Congress leader said, “It will happen soon. We are discussing the issue.”
With a firm majority in both Houses of Parliament, the Modi government and the BJP are unlikely to face immediate legislative risk. However, it would be unprecedented for the opposition to mount simultaneous no-confidence efforts against the Chief Election Commissioner and the Lok Sabha Speaker.
The TMC’s demand for Kumar’s impeachment has found broad resonance across opposition ranks, particularly among regional parties that have questioned the process of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in various states. The opposition has alleged that the exercise is a BJP ploy to disenfranchise opposition voters and benefit the ruling party.While the issue has been debated extensively in the Supreme Court, its political reverberations have also been felt in Parliament.
In the case of the Speaker, opposition parties have accused the Chair of acting at the behest of the government and curbing the opposition’s space in House proceedings. The latest flashpoint arose after the Speaker refused to allow Rahul Gandhi to quote from an unpublished book by former Army chief M. M. Naravane on the 2020 Chinese aggression. The dispute led to disruptions in the Lok Sabha for over a week.
Speaker Birla has since decided not to officiate until the removal notice against him is settled.
(With inputs from TOI)
