NEW DELHI: The IAS Officers’ Association on Friday took exception to “unwarranted criticism” and “personal attacks” against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and his family members amid allegations of “vote theft” by Opposition leaders.
The association stressed that such personal attacks are unconnected with the discharge of official duties. “We stand for the dignity and integrity in public service,” the IAS officers’ body expressed.
This comes days after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged gross irregularities in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and vote theft in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment under the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 polls.
Gandhi has accused the poll panel of engaging in ‘vote chori’ to benefit the ruling BJP—a charge that the commission and the CEC have strongly denied. The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha has also warned that the CEC and the two election commissioners would face stern action when the INDIA bloc comes to power at the Centre.
With the poll panel under a cloud, Kumar has called on Gandhi to either submit an affidavit stating that his allegations are true or apologise. “There is no third option. If the affidavit is not received within seven days, it means that all these allegations are baseless,” Kumar said during a press conference last Sunday. However, that did not deter social media users from attacking his family online.
Kumar is a retired 1988-batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre. He superannuated from the service in 2024 before being appointed as an election commissioner. He became the CEC after Rajiv Kumar’s tenure at the helm of the poll panel came to an end.
22 days on, ECI gets 2 objections from parties
Twenty-two days after the draft electoral rolls of Bihar as part of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) were published on August 1, the Election Commission has received first two objections from a political party, even as to date 84,3035 voters have filed their complaints for correction in the voters’ list, officials in the poll panel said on Friday. Out of the claims and objections received so far, 6,092 have been disposed of by Electoral Registration Officers. The window for claims and objections, which was opened on Aug 1, will stay active till Sept 1.