NEW DELHI: The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers Association has objected to the online trolling of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar's family members amid 'vote chori' campaign launched by Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders . The association said "it strongly deprecates such personal attacks unconnected with the discharge of official duties."
In an ‘X’ post, the officers' forum said, "The IAS Association notes with concern that unwarranted criticism has been directed against the family members of the Chief Election Commissioner, who also happen to be well-reputed civil servants."
Further condemning the personal attacks, it said, "The IAS Association strongly deprecates such personal attacks unconnected with the discharge of official duties. We stand for dignity and integrity in public service."
The family members of the CEC Kumar, particularly his daughters, have faced trolling by a section of social media users.
Kumar is a retired IAS officer from the Kerala cadre of the 1988 batch and had superannuated from the service in 2024. After two months of his retirement, he was appointed as an election commissioner. He became the CEC after his predecessor Rajiv Kumar demitted the officer after completing his tenure in the poll panel.
Alleging gross irregularities in the Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls and a constituency in Karnataka during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi has claimed the poll panel is engaged in ‘vote chori’ to benefit the ruling BJP, which the Commission and the CEC have denied.
In a press conference on Sunday, Kumar also said Gandhi should either submit an affidavit stating that his allegations are true or apologise. "An affidavit will have to be given or an apology will have to be made to the country. There is no third option. If the affidavit is not received within seven days, it means that all these allegations are baseless," Kumar had said.
"More than 1 crore officials, over 10 lakh booth-level agents and over 20 lakh polling agents work for a Lok Sabha election. Can anyone steal votes in front of so many people and with such a transparent process? Some allegations of double voting were made, but when we asked for proof, we got nothing. Such allegations can scare neither the Election Commission nor any voter," he had asserted.