Former election chief criticises SIR over exclusion of eligible voters

Former Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat has criticised the conduct of India’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, saying it is the first time since Independence that so many eligible electors have lost their voting rights. In an interview with The Hindu, Mr.

Rawat said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi should have done more than record dissent when their objections to aspects of the revision were not accepted. He said they should have sought to annul decisions taken against their views at a subsequent meeting of the three-member Commission. The two commissioners formally objected to several decisions 14 times over 10 months, according to the report.

Their concerns included changes to Form 6 and an additional declaration on the ECINet portal asking new voters whether they or their parents or grandparents had appeared on an earlier revision roll. Mr. Rawat also referred to West Bengal, saying 93% of deleted voters whose appeals had been decided by tribunals were found eligible.

He said those voters had consequently missed the opportunity to exercise their voting rights in elections, describing the outcome as serious for democracy. He said the Supreme Court had upheld the Election Commission’s authority to conduct a special revision, but noted that cases involving questionable citizenship were to be referred to a competent authority. He questioned what would happen to votes missed before names could be restored.

On Form 6, Mr. Rawat said the Commission was using it to add back names wrongly excluded during the revision in accordance with a Supreme Court judgment. He said the order had to be respected even though, in his view, the process had caused eligible voters to lose their voting rights.

Mr. Rawat said recent controversies had damaged the Election Commission’s reputation. He urged all three commissioners to hold a joint press conference and explain the process, saying greater public clarity would help address doubts about the poll body.