In a first of an instance, three former Election Commissioners (ECs) have said that the onus to verify any allegation on the electoral process or mechanism lies on the Election Commission of India (ECI). Ex-CECs SY Qureshi, OP Rawat and election commissioners Ashok Lavasa, during an interaction at an event of a media channel, said that CEC Gyanesh Kumar asking for an affidavit or apology from Rahul Gandhi is not correct.
The three former ECI officials were shown the remarks that Gyanesh Kumar made during a press conference to address the opposition’s “vote theft” claims against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar.
Not required for anybody to submit an affidavit: Ashok Lavasa
Former EC Ashok Lavasa said that no one is required to submit any sort of affidavit just to draw the attention of the commission to an irregularity.
“Well, I think the straight answer to that is that it doesn’t require anybody to submit an affidavit if there is a serious complaint which the Election Commission must look into,” he said when asked what he would have done in the same scenario.
“And I think this is a presentation which was made with some bit of analysis. And the claim was that this is Election Commission’s data. So Election Commission of India, being the custodian of the electoral rolls, if such serious allegations are being levelled, I think it is the responsibility of any public organisation, leave aside a constitutional body like the Election Commission, that I think this needs to be investigated,” Lavasa further said, backing his stance.
He said any constitutional body cannot allow a doubt to hang in the air. “Because a doubt has been raised on the integrity of the electoral roll which is prepared under the supervision of the Election Commission. And therefore, I think they need to inquire into it and tell the people what the facts are,” he added.
Should ECI do an inquiry on the issue?
On the query of an investigation into the “vote theft” allegations, another former CEC, OP Rawat said that the top poll body should have immediately worked to clear the doubts raised.
“Actually, questioning any stakeholder per se has never been the forte of Election Commission….whenever any doubt is expressed by even a common voter, Election Commission would always take it seriously, immediately investigate and immediately put the results and findings to that person and in public domain to ensure that no clouds of doubt build up,” he added.
Rawat further said that the onus lies on the ECI to immediately sort the issue at hand.
‘Don’t forget Rahul Gandhi is…’: Ex-CEC SY Qureshi
When asked if Rahul Gandhi’s remarks and continuous targeting at the Election Commission was correct, ex-CEC SY Qureshi said one should not forget that the Congress MP is the leader of opposition.
“…he is not voicing his own opinion, he is voicing the opinion of millions of people. Therefore, if he makes this comment, Commission getting angry, it’s not in the grain of the Commission to get angry,” he flagged.
On the question of what he would have done, Qureshi said, “We would have ordered an inquiry. We would have taken it seriously.”
“What if he turns around and says, you give me an affidavit that whatever 65 lakh deletions you have done, please give an affidavit that if there is one mistake, you will be criminally liable. Therefore, mistakes can be on either side. Daring the leader of the opposition, this way with this tone and with this anger, I don’t think it has done any credit to the Election Commission,” he added.
What CEC Gyanesh Kumar said
In the video played at the event, CEC Gyanesh Kumar said that India has the largest population in the world. “We have the largest voter turnout in the world. Between 90 crore and 100 crore.”
“The largest voter turnout. The largest army of election workers. The largest number of voters. And in front of all this, in front of all the media, to say that if your name is listed as a voter once more, then you must have voted twice. And you must have committed a criminal offence. And you want to make all my voters criminals? And you want the election to remain silent? That is not possible,” he said.
“You will have to file an affidavit. Or you will have to apologise to the country. There is no third option,” the CEC added.
The remarks come at the time when the Supreme Court on Monday reiterated and ordered the ECI to consider Aadhaar card as 12th document for the purpose of Bihar SIR. During the previous hearings, the SC had asked the commission to make public the list of 65 lakh names of deleted voters to allow them proper time to make representation against the same.