NEW DELHI, SEP 27 (AGENCIES): Over 2,000 citizens across the country have signed an open letter to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant to initiate suo motu proceedings against the operational and administrative conduct of the Election Commission of India regarding the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise and the deployment of ECINet.
The letter seeks the immediate stay and rescission of the SIR exercise across all States and Union Territories pending a thorough, independent judicial review of its legality and procedural integrity in light of the new facts that have emerged.
They have also sought an independent, court-monitored investigation into allegations of arbitrary, unauthorised changes made to voter registration software/forms. The open letter has sought a direction from the court for “appropriate penal/procedural action against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and officials for overriding statutory procedures and disregarding the constitutional mandate of the multi-member Commission”.
They have also sought a comprehensive security and legal audit of the ECINet software platform by an independent expert committee appointed by the top court to restore decentralised control to local Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) as mandated by law and verify whether any persons other than statutory officers had access to the platform. The letter urged the court’s intervention to order the immediate reinstatement of voters whose names were deleted due to technical glitches, software locks, or unauthorised procedural modifications.
“Free and fair elections are the bedrock of Indian democracy and form part of the basic structure of our Constitution. When the institutional safeguards designed to protect the electoral roll are compromised from within, judicial intervention becomes vital to preserve public faith in the democratic process,” the letter said.
The signatories include prominent academics, former public officials, lawyers, journalists, writers, artists and human rights activists from across India. They include independent academic Aditya Nigam, filmmaker Aditya Seth, Admiral (retired) Vishnu Bhagwat, retired IAS officer Aditi Mehta, advocate Prashant Bhushan, actor Praskash Raj, among others.
