New Delhi: Opposition parties have stepped up criticism of the Election Commission following a report claiming that two Election Commissioners raised objections to several aspects of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The report said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised concerns about voter registration, the deletion and restoration of names, and appeals against decisions restoring voters.
The Election Commission, however, rejected claims of internal dissent. It said individual views expressed during discussions did not amount to decisions of the poll panel and maintained that all decisions, including those related to SIR, were taken unanimously.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP, RSS and the Election Commission of undermining the electoral process, describing alleged “vote chori” as an attack on the Constitution.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav called the reported disagreements serious and urged the Supreme Court to take note of the matter. Congress leaders Manish Tewari and Jairam Ramesh, AAP’s Saurabh Bhardwaj and Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut also questioned the functioning of the poll body.
The controversy comes amid scrutiny of the SIR exercise, under which millions of names have been removed from draft electoral rolls across several states and Union Territories.