A group of former bureaucrats has demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar due to alleged irregularities in the conduct of special intensive revision of electoral rolls (SIR). The demands come after two election commissioners objected to decisions related to the SIR, stating that some had been taken without their knowledge.
A group of former bureaucrats, led by Sandeep Bagchee, JL Bajaj, and G Balachandhran, has demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar due to alleged irregularities in the conduct of special intensive revision of electoral rolls (SIR) in the country. In an open letter, the Constitutional Conduct Group accused the Election Commission’s functioning as 'imperious, autocratic and dictatorial' due to Kumar. The group added that his actions around the SIR exercise represented ‘serious infringement’ of constitutional functioning and legality.
On Saturday, the group had called on the Election Commission to scrap the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. The letter came amid similar demands by the Opposition and civil society groups for Kumar’s removal over alleged irregularities in the functioning of the poll panel.
The demands come after The Indian Express reported that two election commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had objected to decisions related to the SIR. The newspaper's investigation showed that they had formally objected 14 times in 10 months to the poll panel’s decisions about the SIR, saying that some had been taken without their knowledge.
Their objections were reportedly related to the changes to Form 6, appeals against the inclusion of voters in West Bengal and the handling of voter data in Goa, among other matters. Form 6 is used to register new voters.
In one written objection, Sandhu was quoted as having stated that the poll panel had acted against the advice of both commissioners and described the action as ‘unauthorised and illegal’.
The two election commissioners had also raised concerns over access to the digital electoral roll database.
Reiterating its earlier demand to scrap the SIR exercise, the group said the process had caused ‘untold trauma and anxiety’ among citizens eligible to vote. It accused the poll body of ‘weaponising’ its constitutional powers by introducing the SIR and putting in place ‘unnecessarily complicated’ procedures that enabled ‘large-scale manipulation’ of electoral rolls.
The group also demanded amendments to the 2023 Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act to ‘democratise’ the selection process. The Act gives the government a 2:1 majority on the selection committee over the leader of the Opposition in case of a difference of opinion.
It also demanded that the immunity given to the election commissioners should be removed. Section 16 of the Act protects current and former election commissioners from civil and criminal proceedings for acts, things or words done or spoken in the discharge of their official duties.
The letter was signed by 74 people.
Source:
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