New Delhi, Sep 24 Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday submitted a complaint against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Parliament Street police station here, seeking registration of an FIR against him over reports that two election commissioners had objected to several decisions of the poll panel amid the SIR exercise.
Moitra, a Lok Sabha MP of the Mamata Banerjee-led party, reached the police station and submitted her complaint. Police are yet to register an FIR.
In her complaint, she cited The Indian Express report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders of the Election Commission, including on addition, deletion and restoration of voters and changes to the voter registration process.
Moitra said the chief election commissioner (CEC) had “no power to act for the Commission against the recorded opinion of both his colleagues, and none whatsoever to issue communications in its name which it has never approved”.
She also raised the question of misuse of public money, since substantial funds were sanctioned and released for the SIR exercise.
The TMC leader also argued that while she was aware of the immunity provided to the CEC and ECs from civil or criminal court proceedings for acts, words, or decisions made in their official capacity under Section 16 of the CEC and EC Act, 2023, “it says nothing about registering a First Information Report or an investigation, which are statutory duties cast upon the police and are not proceedings before a court at all”.
“They cannot also get on the rolls. So this is criminal conduct, and they cannot hide behind Section 16 of the CEC and EC Act of 2023. That gives you immunity from discharging your official function. Your official function is when you act along with three commissioners as an election commission. If you turn rogue and turn a criminal, and you do not listen to the other two election commissioners, you serve all power,” she said.
Moitra said the complaint states that Kumar is not an independent election commissioner, and the CEC cannot take any decision without the other two ECs.
“All the decisions taken by Gyanesh Kumar were certainly not majority decisions. The decisions conveyed on behalf of the Election Commission were actually falsified because they were done by one person without the consent of the other two. Hence, he cannot enjoy immunity and is open to prosecution,” she said.
“Today, all over India, 13 crore voters have been deleted. What will happen to their children? What will happen to their children who turn 18?” she said.
“In consideration of the above facts, I request that a First Information Report be registered and the offences investigated, that the role of each person involved be ascertained, that the relevant witnesses, including the two Election Commissioners, be examined, and that the evidence be secured without delay so as to prevent its destruction or manipulation,” Moitra said in her complaint.
In the wake of the Indian Express report, EC officials said the two election commissioners had flagged decisions taken during the poll roll cleanup and handling of the voter database in various states.
EC sources maintained that all decisions of the Election Commission of India, including SIR, have been unanimous and with the approval of both the election commissioners and the CEC.
(PTI News)
