Barricaded at the gates: former bureaucrats and activists blocked from serving 'public impeachment notice' on CEC

New Delhi, Oct 5 — A delegation of former bureaucrats and activists who set out on Sunday to serve a "public impeachment notice" on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar never reached the Election Commission's doors: every road to the poll panel's headquarters was sealed by heavy police barricading, the group said. Instead of handing over their "people's chargesheet" on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the group held an emergency press conference at the Press Club of India. The delegation included former Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung, former home secretary G.K. Pillai, activist Yogendra Yadav, former information commissioner Yashovardhan Azad and RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj. Their complaint is that the SIR exercise and the Chief Election Commissioner's conduct have destroyed public trust in the electoral machinery — and that the institutions meant to hold the poll panel accountable have fallen silent. The group said it wanted the CEC's removal from office through impeachment proceedings. The barricades are part of a pattern. On Saturday, around 150 protesters — including student leader Neha Bora, Yadav and senior advocate Prashant Bhushan — were detained while marching from Patel Chowk towards Jantar Mantar to demand the CEC's resignation over the SIR. Police erected barricades at multiple points along the route and stopped the march before it could reach the designated protest site. Days earlier, the Delhi Police detained more than 700 protesters and registered three FIRs at the Parliament Street and Connaught Place stations under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which covers disobedience of orders issued by public servants. Restrictions under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita were imposed across the New Delhi area, where the Election Commission's office sits. The street protesters' demands now echo through the Opposition's corridors: Rahul Gandhi has demanded the CEC's resignation, and Congress sources have said Opposition parties plan to move an impeachment-motion notice against Kumar in both Houses of Parliament within two weeks. What made Sunday striking was the identity of the blockaded. Not students or party workers, but former occupants of the highest offices of the republic — men and women who once wrote the rules now being used to barricade them. Their route to the Commission was closed. Their chargesheet will have to travel by other means.