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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.
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, speaking to NDTV, said a case of treason was made out if decisions were taken centrally to delete voters, among some other moves facing scrutiny
The Congress, however, countered the clarification, saying the original issues were not addressed in this second press note either. “So obviously instructions have gone from those who are controlling the software in Delhi, in the Election Commission, to [delete the voters]. “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?
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 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 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. 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. He said the EC needed to address all the points being raised as younger citizens, in particular, are agitated. 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? The BJP has said the latest clarification by the EC has ended the row and “exposed” the Congress plot to “attack a Constitutional body”.
