Citing ex-minister RK Singh, Congress's Pawan Khera alleged the SIR of electoral rolls is illegal, destroying election integrity. He flagged disenfranchisement, compromised ECI independence, and demanded CEC Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.
Congress leader Pawan Khera on Tuesday cited former Union Minister and former Union Home Secretary Raj Kumar Singh's criticism of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that the exercise raises concerns over electoral law, voter disenfranchisement and the independence of the Election Commission.
In a post shared on X, Khera said Singh "knows the system from the inside" and had delivered "a devastating indictment" of the SIR. "His warning goes far beyond the mechanics of electoral rolls," Khera said, listing the concerns flagged by Singh, including a threat to universal adult franchise, violation of electoral law and procedure, centralisation of electoral power, denial of natural justice, barriers for young voters, technical criteria "weaponised against the poor," disproportionate impact on migrants and marginalised citizens, and questions over the ECI's institutional independence and political interference.
Khera said Singh's concerns "cannot simply be dismissed as partisan rhetoric" and alleged that "the integrity of Indian elections has been destroyed". He further said that the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was a necessary first step towards restoring public confidence in the Election Commission. "The integrity of Indian elections has been destroyed. And the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar Gupta is a necessary first step towards restoring public confidence in the Election Commission," he wrote.
RK Singh's Open Letter Details Allegations
In his open letter, shared by Khera, RK Singh wrote, "Do you want India to remain a democracy? Then you must understand what Gyanesh Kumar, the CEC, and his bosses are doing in the so-called SIR. They are violating the law."
Claims of Illegality and Procedural Violations
Singh said that under Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, a special revision is to be undertaken only in special cases, for reasons recorded in writing, and only in a constituency or part of it. "An order for intensive revision for the whole country was illegal. An exception allowed for special cases cannot become the rule," he said.
He alleged that the revised rolls with deletions were used in elections even though appeals against deletions were pending. He also said that under Section 22, only the Electoral Registration Officer can remove a name, and only after an enquiry and a reasonable opportunity of hearing.
'Weaponised' Criteria and Disenfranchisement
Singh alleged that the burden of proof had been inverted, saying persons whose names were removed had to apply afresh through Form 6. He also claimed that a new appendix added to Form 6, seeking the serial number of parents' names in the 2003 voter list, "stopped the registration of all young voters." He said the "logical discrepancy" criterion, under which a gap of less than 15 years between father and child was flagged, disproportionately excluded the poor. "The largest number of exclusions have been the poor and the underprivileged, those without a voice," he said.
Singh further claimed that 13 crore names had been deleted by SIR so far. "The difference between NDA and INDIA in the 2024 elections was only 3%. So the deletions have had and will have a material impact on the elections," he said.
Call for Opposition Unity and Reforms
He suggested that all Opposition parties unite and refuse to participate in elections until the CEC and Election Commissioners resign and their successors are selected through a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and a sitting Supreme Court judge. He also called for polls by ballot rather than EVMs. "Let us unite to save our democracy," Singh said.
Jairam Ramesh Slams Demographic Changes Panel
Separately, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh termed the High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes, led by the Ministry of Home Affairs, a panel with "a patently diabolical agenda" and "pre-conceived biases." "Its report has already been prepared no doubt," he said on X.
Ramesh shared a post by a journalist, who reported that the panel has sought religion-wise data for the past 15 years on birth and vehicle registrations, school enrolment and property transactions, as well as district-wise details of religious structures and unusual increases in Aadhaar, voter ID and ration card registrations. States have reportedly been unable to answer most queries as such data is not ordinarily maintained on religious lines.
Dissent Within ECI and Commission's Rebuttal
The political row intensified following an investigative report by The Indian Express, which said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months on decisions and procedures linked to the SIR exercise.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has rejected the suggestion that the reported objections represented institutional dissent, maintaining that decisions related to SIR were taken with the "unanimous approval of the Commission." (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)