New Delhi, Sep 26 Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday said the “unanimous clarification” issued by the Election Commission on the SIR issue reaffirmed the integrity and credibility of the country’s constitutional institutions and put to rest all the misconceptions surrounding it.
In a post on X, Naidu, whose TDP is one of the key constituents of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), said the decisions concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls are taken “collectively” and in strict adherence to established institutional protocols.
“Attempts to undermine global confidence in India’s democratic framework or electoral processes for short-term political gains are deeply unfortunate,” the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president said in a veiled attack against the Congress and its allies.
“Electoral outcomes reflect the people’s mandate. In a robust democracy, leadership also means accepting both victories and defeats with grace and humility,” Naidu said, adding, “Respect for our constitutional institutions is paramount. It is the collective responsibility of leaders across party lines to uphold public confidence in India’s democratic process.”
Naidu’s remarks came after the Election Commission on Saturday asserted that all SIR orders were issued after approval from all three Election Commissioners and the changes in Form 6, through which names are included in the voters’ list, have been upheld by the Supreme Court.
Amidst the ongoing row over differences between the two Election Commissioners and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the EC said in a statement that the letters sent by the two commissioners — Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi — to the Cabinet Secretary were not related to any policy matter of the Commission or its IT division, but to the working of an officer on deputation to the poll panel.
The Indian Express had reported that Sandhu and Joshi wrote separately to Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan after issuance of a work allocation order within the poll body that “threatened to concentrate the powers” at the EC centrally to add or delete names and update records in the voters’ list rather than allowing officials at the state level.
In the statement on Saturday, the Election Commission (EC) clarified that the work redistribution orders issued by the officer concerned were never implemented following directions from the two Commissioners.
It is the second EC statement after the news report sparked an uproar, with the opposition demanding CEC Kumar’s sacking and the scrapping of SIR.
Three BJP allies — LJP (Ram Vilas), TDP and RLM — had also sought a clearer explanation from the EC.
“The unanimous clarification issued by the Election Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alongside Election Commissioners S. S. Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, reaffirms the integrity and credibility of our constitutional institutions and puts to rest all the misconceptions surrounding it,” Naidu said on Saturday.
(PTI News)
