To
Shri Rajiv Kumar
Chief Election Commissioner
Shri Gyanesh Kumar
Election Commissioner
Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu
Election Commissioner
Dear Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, S/Shri Gyanesh Kumar/ Rajiv Kumar,
Please refer to my letter of 23rd May 2024 (https://countercurrents.org/2024/05/election-commissions-double-standards-in-dealing-with-star-campaigners-serious-offences-vis-a-vis-other-offences/) on ECI’s double standards in dealing with hate speeches delivered by star campaigners of different political parties, with an apparent bias in favour of BJP.
It is equally distressing that the Commission should take a stand against the need for transparency in making a public disclosure of Form 17C information on booth wise voter turn-out, in connection with the public interest litigation before the apex court. Not taking the public into confidence once again raises serious questions on the role of the Commission, especially in view of the range of concerns raised by me in the above cited letter. In my view, it directly violates the citizen’s right to information under Article 19.
I have ome across yet another report (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/bjp-polling-agents-carrying-pamphlets-inside-booth-alleges-aaps-somnath-bharti/articleshow/110419056.cms) on BJP’s polling agents in Delhi allowed to carry their candidates’ pamphlets into polling stations and openly displaying them while voting was going on.
Since the Commission, at considerable cost to the public exchequer, has installed CCTV cameras in polling stations (https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/delhi-high-court/eci-informs-delhi-high-court-about-norms-on-recording-and-preservation-of-cctv-footage-videography-during-polls-258017), it should be readily possible for it to identify all such polling stations where the party agents were found interfering with the voting process and take deterrent action against the concerned parties and those agents. In my view, the Commission may have to order re-polling in such polling stations, if what has been alleged is found to be true, since such an open and blatant display of candidates’ pamphlets in a polling station should be deemed to have tainted/ vitiated the electoral process.
Has the Commission taken prompt action on the above? Otherwise, one would be forced to draw the conclusion that the Commission has deliberately or otherwise allowed such serious illegalities to take place, upsetting the level-playing ground among political parties in favour of the ruling party.
I am sure that the Commission has the recorded video proceedings for all polling stations in India and is fully aware of the details of the polling stations where party agents and others have violated the norms laid down by it. I would request the Commission to be transparent and impartial enough to divulge the details immediately and inform the public of the action taken by it, as otherwise, it would lead to further concerns about the role of the Commission.
Keeping in view the keen contest that is evident in the ongoing elections, unless the Commission takes full advantage of the live polling-station-wise video proceedings to locate each and every instance of such an illegality taking place in polling stations and acts promptly and decisively against the errant political parties and their agents, it would not be able to elicit public trust that is necessary for it to function as it should in accordance with its Constitutional mandate.
Neither the Commission nor the people of this country can afford to allow the kind of illegalities witnessed in Delhi polling stations to take place unhindered elsewhere and vitiate the sanctity of elections. The Commission cannot take its own time to audit the videos at a later date and do a post mortem, as what is urgently called for is that the Commission orders repoll in all such cases now, before the results are out.
It is unfortunate that such instances should come to the notice of the public, not as a result of the much-touted “live video surveillance system” of the Commission but from other sources.
Yours sincerely,
E A S Sarma
Former Secretary to the Government of India
Visakhapatnam
