Former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa on Tuesday said the Election Commission being mired in controversies was unprecedented and advised it to regain public trust, drawing a cricket analogy to warn that a team's victory would be questioned "if people feel the umpire was not neutral".
A united opposition has taken to the streets over the past few days and clashed with police in the national capital, escalating its protest against alleged "vote chori" and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
This came after an Indian Express report said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions and orders they said were issued without their knowledge, even as the national rollout of the SIR was under the supervision of the full commission.
Addressing a citizens' convention in Kolkata virtually, Lavasa said, "I feel this is very unfortunate and dangerous for democracy, because you need an umpire in an electoral democracy."
"If people feel that the umpire is not neutral, they will question the winning team's victory as well," the former election commissioner said.
"The EC should regain its credibility and people's trust. The Election Commission of India, whose position is very high and possibly the highest among all public institutions, is today mired in controversies and people are taking to the streets to protest," he said.
Pointing to the Indian Express report that claimed disquiet within the three-member Election Commission, Lavasa asked how one would know whether a decision was taken unanimously or by majority within the commission if minutes of meetings were not available.
"This casts a doubt in the minds of the people whether the decisions of the Election Commission, including on the SIR, were unanimous or taken by majority," he said.
Lavasa claimed that no authentic clarification has come from the Election Commission.
"Some press statements have been issued, but those create more questions and generate more doubts than they answer," he said.
Under fire over the red flags raised by two of its commissioners over the SIR process, the EC has asserted that differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.
In a statement, the poll panel also said that not only the three commissioners, but every officer of the EC is fully authorised to give suggestions to the commission to improve the electoral system.
Pointing to the controversy over the SIR of electoral rolls, he said the people of the country have never been so worried about saving their voting rights as they have been in the last 16 months. "The EC's decision to conduct the SIR took everyone by surprise," he asserted.
Stating that earlier too the Election Commission held special revisions of electoral rolls with different nomenclature under provisions of the Representation of the People Act and Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, he said, "There has never been such mass anxiety over such an exercise."
Stating that the electors were divided into three age groups depending on their date of birth in line with the Citizenship Act, he said, "This is a step which the Election Commission had never taken before."
The former election commissioner said that the Constitution gave the Election Commission the responsibility to enrol all those who fulfil criteria under Article 326 of the Constitution.
Article 326 provides that all Indian citizens who are more than 18 years of age, are not of unsound mind and not disqualified under any law are eligible voters, he said.
"But unfortunately, with the tactics deployed this time, the goal is not to include. Possibly the priority is to exclude people from the voter list on the suspicion that they are not Indian citizens and not on evidence," he said, contrasting it with the inclusive approach in the early 1950s under India's first Chief Election Commissioner Sukumar Sen.
Lavasa said that in the SIR exercise carried out in West Bengal, nearly 60 lakh people's voting rights went under adjudication, apart from many who were excluded in the draft electoral rolls itself. "The EC did not pay heed to the issue that the elections in West Bengal were very near and it was not possible to adjudicate the 60 lakh cases."
Lavasa said that around 33 lakh names were brought back to the voter list after adjudication.
Addressing the convention organised by CPI(M) leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya and retired bureaucrat Jawhar Sircar, actor-activist Prakash Raj described SIR as the "most dangerous disease" which was trying to kill the country's democracy.
"Even before Gyanesh Kumar came (as the CEC), they broke parties in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Bihar," he said, accusing the BJP leadership of trying to divide people through the SIR into those who can vote and those who cannot.
He alleged that the Assembly elections in Bengal were conducted in an "illegal" manner following the SIR of electoral rolls. "Names of voters were selectively deleted," Raj alleged and maintained that "there has been dissent within the system".
The actor claimed the opposition parties have suddenly realised that they have been contesting "fixed" elections. "As civil society, it is time we come together," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)