CWC resolution demands CEC's resignation, suspension of SIR

New Delhi: The Congress Working Committee has demanded the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the suspension of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls and the restoration of the names it says have been deleted, claiming the exercise has "wiped out" 13.30 crore voters.

In a resolution, the CWC said the CEC had forfeited "all moral and institutional authority" and questioned the constitutional validity of the roll revision that has already removed, by its reckoning, 13 crore 30 lakh Indians from the electoral rolls.

The resolution records three demands: the immediate resignation of the CEC, who it says has "forfeited all moral and institutional authority"; the immediate suspension of the SIR in view of "serious concerns regarding the integrity and transparency of the electoral rolls being prepared through the SIR, as well as the constitutional validity of the SIR process itself"; and the immediate restoration of the 13.30 crore names removed from the rolls.

Arguing the constitutional case, the CWC said a process that shifts "the burden onto citizens to prove their own eligibility", is executed in haste without transparent safeguards and results in "arbitrary mass-disenfranchisement" cannot be reconciled with the guarantee of equality under Article 14 or universal adult suffrage under Article 326.

The resolution cites recent reports that the Election Commission has been reduced to a "one-man show", with the CEC taking decisions without due consultation with the other Election Commissioners, and says two Election Commissioners raised 14 objections over ten months, citing "unauthorised" and "illegal" changes to Form 6 used in the SIR. The Indian Express has reported that Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to SIR decisions they said were taken without their knowledge or recommendation.

"The unprecedented concentration of control over electoral rolls in the hands of a few BJP-backed officials during the nationwide SIR serves as the last nail in the coffin of the ECI's credibility," the resolution says.

It frames the exercise as political: "This brazen Vote Chori has been organised by the CEC on behalf of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. Nothing short of their resignation will ensure the safety of our constitution and hard-earned democracy."

The CWC also laid out the campaign it has run against the revision — the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar, the nationwide "Vote Chori" campaign after press conferences on roll manipulation in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana, the EAGLE group's engagement with the Election Commission, written objections to procedural changes, legal challenges to the SIR, INDIA bloc protests in Parliament and a march to the ECI — and said it will press the issue in Parliament, in the courts and on the streets "until the guilty are punished, every citizen's vote is secure and the ECI is restored as an independent constitutional authority".

The CWC meeting was chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jairam Ramesh and K.C. Venugopal, among others.

A day before the meeting, Mr. Kharge said the Election Commissioners had "exposed" the working within the poll body by raising concerns over the SIR, changes to Form 6 for enrolling new voters, additions and deletions from voter lists and centralised control over the electoral roll database, and called the issue a question of the survival of democracy in the country.

The Congress has also said the EC's proposed measures for deleted or at-risk voters are an admission that the exercise has been a "disaster", and that such "piecemeal" steps will do little to mitigate the "mass disenfranchisement".

The opposition INDIA bloc will meet on Wednesday to chalk out a joint strategy on the issue and is likely to file another notice in Parliament for the removal of the CEC.

The Election Commission has said differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations in any institution and that all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures. It said the letters sent by Mr. Sandhu and Mr. Joshi to the Cabinet Secretary pertained to an officer on deputation, rather than policy or IT division matters.

(With inputs from PTI)