- Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal said Election Commission should file a defamation case if dissent reports are false
- Sibal claimed that centralised EC decisions deleting voters could amount to treason
- He called for an inquiry into the EC's actions and urged the Supreme Court to seek the files
Rajya Sabha member and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal suggested on Saturday that the Election Commission should file a defamation case if the recent reports of dissent within the panel, and the allegations of "vote chori" (theft) levelled by the Opposition, are incorrect. In turn, he said, a case of "treason" was made out if decisions were taken centrally by the EC to delete voters, among some other moves that are facing scrutiny. He also cal
"It's as simple as that," Sibal asserted in an interview with NDTV's Vishnu Som. He said the EC "should take some legal action" if the report by The Indian Express, which said two election commissioners had objected to certain moves of the Gyanesh Kumar-led poll body, was "inconsistent with the record".
He added that a press note issued through a deputy director "doesn't contradict" the report. The EC's first press note, on September 24, had framed the objections as mere disagreements that are part of a decision-making process that's democratic.
"The fact [is] that there is no signature on that press [note] by any of the three commissioners," said Sibal, who served as minister in Manmohan Singh's Congress-led UPA government before the BJP led by Narendra Modi came to power in 2014.
Sibal asserted that the EC had not addressed the "centralisation of data", nor questions over tweaks in the new voter enrolment process via Form 6. He also said the EC had not spoken about 97 people in Goa who were not allowed to be re-included in the voter rolls after being excluded in the contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Sibal was speaking before the EC issued a point-by-point clarification later on Saturday, in which it said 81 of those 97 people had already been re-included. The Congress, however, countered the clarification, saying the original issues were not addressed in this second press note either.
Sibal pointed towards West Bengal, where over 25 lakh voters from earlier rolls were excluded in the SIR citing 'logical discrepancies': "To the extent in which decisions [by tribunals] have been taken in West Bengal... 91-94% of the votes were wrongly deleted."
He said the IE report had pointed out that local electoral registration officers (EROs) were denied access to the central portal ECINET in Goa, for instance. "So obviously instructions have gone from those who are controlling the software in Delhi, in the Election Commission, to [delete the voters]. And this is very, very serious," said Sibal, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha as an Independent with backing from UP's main Opposition, Samajwadi Party.
Asked if there could be a case filed over such decisions, he said, "Without doubt... It is the subversion of democracy. It amounts to treason."
The EC's clarification later said field officers have "role-based access" to the ECINET system as per their statutory powers. It also said a committee headed by a senior deputy election commissioner (DEC) and including an independent expert "will review the ECINET to double-check that it complies with the provisions of the Acts and Rules".
Sibal, when asked about ECINET and the poll body's assertions, said, "Do you think they will admit that what has been done is wrong? Which accused ever admits that what is done is wrong? Nobody admits."
"How do you answer what happened with the decisions of the tribunals in West Bengal? It can't be a coincidence that 91-94% were deleted wrongly," he cited again.
He said the EC needed to address all the points being raised as younger citizens, in particular, are agitated. "Why do you want children all over the country and the nation to believe that you are an Election Commission that is not performing your constitutional obligations? Why do you want people to even have that suspicion?" Sibal said, claiming that "this is all happening after 2014".
On the Opposition's demand that Gyanesh Kumar be removed, Sibal said, "In fact, if you ask me, if the central government believes that what Gyanesh Kumar has done is wrong, the central government should suspend him and set up an enquiry; right?"
He also asked the Supreme Court "to take into account these revelations and ask for the files of the EC, and seal them and then look into it", and noted that the matter related to the SIR is already with the court.
"Remember, it's not just a vote. It is so many welfare schemes attached to the vote; that is, property which is an attachment to the vote itself. You take away property without legal means; that's cheating. That's dacoity. That's so many things."
He also questioned why the BJP was defending the EC.
The BJP has said the latest clarification by the EC has ended the row and "exposed" the Congress plot to "attack a Constitutional body".
