Bhopal, Oct 15 Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh on Thursday said that the Supreme Court had issued notices to the Election Commission of India and Union government in response to his writ petition over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Holding a press conference here, the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of trying to disenfranchise the country’s voters by abusing the SIR process.
The Opposition is currently seeking the resignation of CEC Kumar and reversal of the SIR process.
According to the law, only a decision taken by a majority in the three-member Commission is considered valid, Singh said.
“It is unfortunate that Gyanesh Kumar has taken several arbitrary decisions without consulting or informing the remaining two Election Commissioners. He has ignored their objections and deleted the names of over 13 crore eligible voters from the electoral rolls to ensure the BJP’s victory. This is a grossly unconstitutional and undemocratic act,” Singh claimed.
“I filed a petition in this regard in the Honorable Supreme Court on October 12 under Article 32 of the Constitution, which the Court today accepted,” he said.
Article 326 of the Constitution grants all eligible citizens the right to register as voters, Singh said, adding that local-level Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have the power to decide which voters will be included or removed, and this statutory process cannot be altered through any electronic platform or software.
“However, Gyanesh Kumar, ignoring the two Election Commissioners, single-handedly prevented EROs from updating data through ECINET and usurped their authority,” the Congress leader alleged.
The Election Commission arbitrarily inserted a declaration between sections J and K of Form 6 (used for voter registration), asking the applicant whether their name or their parents’ or grandparents’ names appeared in the electoral rolls of the previous SIR, he said.
“It also warned of penalties for entering incorrect information. This was illegal. Without providing this information, no one could submit an online application. This illegal form, created arbitrarily and in defiance of the Representation of the People Act, resulted in the removal of crores of voters from electoral rolls,” the Congress leader said.
The Election Commission did not have the authority to make changes to the voter registration form (Form 6) on its own, Singh said, asking why the Commission added the new declaration.
Under Form 7, objections can be filed seeking the removal of a voter’s name, but a name can not be actually removed without verification, said Singh.
Yet, the EC removed crores of names without due verification on the basis of Form 7s filed in bulk by unknown persons, he alleged.
(PTI News)
