Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Sep 23: Former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal on Wednesday claimed that the majority in the Election Commission of India (ECI) was not with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and alleged that he was taking decisions "arbitrarily" according to his own wishes.
Sibal's remarks came amid a controversy over an investigative report published by a leading daily, which claimed that two Election Commissioners had objected "on record" on 14 occasions over a period of 10 months to various decisions and steps taken by the poll panel.
According to the report, the objections concerned several issues and procedures, including allegations that the Election Commissioners were kept unaware of certain matters and concerns over the addition of new voters and deletion of names from electoral rolls.
Speaking to reporters, Sibal said the Election Commission earlier had a single member, but an amendment later led to the creation of a three-member Commission, with decisions to be taken by majority.
"So today, it has been established that the majority was not with Gyanesh Kumar. Gyanesh Kumar was making decisions arbitrarily according to his own whims -- how to run the election, what the ERO should do, which form to file; Gyanesh Kumar was deciding all this," he alleged.
Referring to Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, Sibal said they had repeatedly raised objections to the decisions being taken by Kumar.
"Joshi Sahab and Sandhu Sahab, who are Election Commissioners, protested several times against what Gyanesh Kumar is doing. And almost, I think, 14 times in 10 months, they protested," he said.
Sibal argued that since decisions in the three-member Commission are required to be taken by majority, objections raised by two Election Commissioners should not have been ignored.
"And if two Election Commissioners have opposed this, then that was ignored. And those matters didn't even come before the Election Commission at all. This is the second point," he said.
Sibal also referred to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and claimed that the Election Commissioners had pointed out that the Representation of the People Act permits such an exercise only in exceptional circumstances.
"Gyanesh Kumar ignored this as well, because the precedent isn't that this happened before; only once under the Representation of the People Act, a special revision took place, and that too in a single small area -- a single constituency. But now it is happening across the entire country," he said.
He further alleged that the nationwide exercise could affect decisions on who is allowed to vote and whose names are added or deleted from electoral rolls.
"And it is happening across the entire country so that the elections can be controlled in their own hands -- to keep in their hands who should be given the right to vote, whose name should be deleted, and whose name should be added," Sibal alleged.
The Rajya Sabha member also questioned the use of Form 6 under the Representation of the People Act, which is required to be submitted by a person seeking to be registered as a new voter.
"The fourth point, which is an even more serious matter, is regarding Form 6 under the Representation of the People Act, which a new voter has to fill out. And in that, the new voter has to declare that 'I have never voted before'," he said.
Sibal said the requirement could become an issue for people whose parents' or grandparents' names are not present in electoral records or whose own names have been deleted.
He also alleged that several portals and applications had been brought under a centralised system, raising concerns over the process of deletion of names from electoral rolls.
"Forty portals and apps were centralised into one. Meaning all authority was with the Commission. Then Seema Khanna, Director General (IT) of the Commission, everything came under her," Sibal alleged.
He further claimed that names of 13 crore people had been removed in 30 states and alleged that the figure could increase to 30 crore if the process continued.
"We have already told these things to the Supreme Court. We are telling the Supreme Court -- we tell them every day. Whenever this matter comes up, the Supreme Court does not even listen to us," he said.
The ECI, however, rejected the report published by the daily, which claimed that two Election Commissioners had "objected on record" to several decisions of the poll panel and alleged that some decisions were taken without their knowledge.