ECs Disagreed With CEC On SIR

Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Gyanesh Kumar and Vivek Joshi. Election Commissioners Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally objected at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions made without their knowledge.

The Commissioners questioned the deletion of 13 crore voters across India through a special intensive revision exercise.

Dr Sandhu complained that the Election Commission acted against their written advice, deeming actions 'unauthorised and illegal'.

Joshi and Dr Sandhu wrote to the Cabinet Secretary about changes in work allocation that removed oversight of the IT backbone for electoral rolls, which they struck down.

Changes to Form 6, a critical document for new voters, were deemed illegal and unauthorised as they were made without amending the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

 

Election Commissioners Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have repeatedly recorded that they had not been consulted or informed about decisions taken in the Election Commission's name, an Indian Express report revealed on Wednesday morning.

Questions were raised by the two election commissioners, Dr Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, over the conduct of the special intensive revision exercise by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar that led to the deletion of 13 crore (130 million) voters across India.

Concerns Over Unauthorised Decisions

An investigative report published by The Indian Express said that the two election commissioners formally objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months -- four times on a single day -- to decisions taken and orders issued which, they say, were without their knowledge.

In one such written objection, Dr Sandhu complained that the Election Commission acted against the written advice of the two commissioners and claimed that its action was unauthorised and illegal.

The Election Commission of India is a Constitutional body under Article 324 of the Constitution, and is made up of the chief election commissioner and two election commissioners who are equal in rank.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is the first among equals; however, he does not have the power to decide alone.

The law provides that Election Commission business should, as far as possible, be transacted unanimously and where members differ, by majority.

And yet Election Commissioners Dr Sandhu and Joshi repeatedly recorded that they had not been consulted or informed about decisions taken in the Election Commission's name, the Indian Express report stated.

Objections to Work Allocation and Form 6 Changes

The Indian Express report further says that Joshi and Sandhu wrote to the Cabinet Secretary complaining about changes in work allocation that in effect removed a layer of oversight of the IT backbone for the electoral rolls.

Both election commissioners made it clear that the changes had been done without their knowledge and that they struck them down.

After this, the three election commissioners met on September 9, their first full meeting in four months, the Indian Express report stated.

The two election commissioners also stated that it was illegal and unauthorised to bring the changes related to SIR into Form 6 -- the form new voters have to fill.

It asks applicants to choose one of the three statements: Whether their name appeared in the electoral roll during the last SIR held in the early 2000s; whether the name of a parent or grandparent appeared in that roll; or whether neither their name nor that of their parents appeared in it.

This section itself was not marked mandatory but applicants could not proceed to submit the form without answering it.

The Indian Express report claims to have accessed the internal records of the Election Commissioner whereby the two election commissioners stated in May that this could not be done without amending the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and notified by the Centre after consultation with the Election Commission.

Form 6 is a critical document that decides who a new voter is, and was modified without the government having amended the rules as per law, the Indian Express stated.