“It seems some people in this country still have a conscience… look at the kind of irregularities taking place in the Election Commission,” Sibal said while addressing a press conference.
“There used to be a single member; now, there are three. It has been established that the majority was not with Gyanesh Kumar. He used to act arbitrarily; Mr Joshi and Mr Sandhu questioned his working methods on 14 occasions,” he alleged.
Sibal was referring to a report in the Indian Express which claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections on several occasions over decisions taken during the SIR process.
On the Election Commission’s software and access control, Sibal said the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) should have authority over additions to electoral rolls.
“Regarding the Election Commission’s software-the ERO should be able to determine access and control who can make additions. However, the ERO’s access was revoked; the other two commissioners opposed this,” he said.
“What transpired went against the norms of the Election Commission; was a subordinate reporting to Gyanesh Kumar to decide who gets added to the electoral roll?” he added.Sibal alleged that decisions should have been taken through majority voting among the three-member Election Commission.
“Decisions should have been made by a majority vote, but that did not happen. The other two commissioners were opposed to this; the move was made to retain only those voters they wanted and delete the rest,” he said.
On changes in Form 6, used for voter registration, Sibal alleged that an additional question requiring applicants to declare whether they had voted previously was introduced without a formal amendment.
“The ECI wants me to lie; they added this question to Form 6 without any formal amendment. While the government could have done this, Gyanesh Kumar did it on his own initiative,” he said.
Sibal also alleged that a supervisor was appointed over the official handling IT operations and that the original official was suspended, claiming that the two Election Commissioners had written to the Cabinet Secretary regarding the matter.
“By now, 13 crore names have been deleted. We raise this matter with the Supreme Court daily, but the Court does not heed us. The Election Commission is not trustworthy,” he said.
Calling for immediate action, Sibal demanded that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar be removed from his post and the SIR process be stopped.
“Gyanesh Kumar should be suspended with immediate effect, the process halted immediately, and the recent elections held in Bihar and other places should be annulled,” he said.
The controversy follows opposition parties raising concerns over the Indian Express report on the SIR process, which claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected multiple times over decisions and orders issued without their knowledge.
According to the report, the two commissioners raised objections on 14 occasions over the last 10 months regarding decisions related to the process.
Several opposition leaders, including Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj and CPI(M) MP John Brittas, have also reacted to the report and raised questions over the SIR process.
Raut while addressing a press conference, said, “Gyanesh Kumar should be suspended, and legal action should be taken against him. In this country, elections have become a farce. ECI comes under the Home Ministry. The number one criminal is Amit Shah. If the PM wants to save the nation, he should remove Amit Shah from the Cabinet. If Modi ji doesn’t take action, then I will urge the President, who is the chief of all three security forces, to remove Gyanesh Kumar. If the President also takes no action, then the Army Chief should come forward to save the country from such ‘hukumshahon’.”
