It Is Still the Election Commission of India, Not the Gyanesh Kumar Commission

Dear citizen, listen well to this historic expose by Ritika Chopra in The Indian Express and ask yourself the question: are we the largest democracy or the most compromised one?

Indeed, it is a question that our beloved prime minister who is so occupied in righting the woes of the world might take up for immediate attention.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.

Given the details of the internecine ruptures among the three Election Commissioners (ECs), two on the one side and one on the other, the two, who, according to IE, have not once but several times put their strong observations regarding the dubious legality of steps taken by the Election Commission of India (ECI) often without any intimation to them in writing, may well now rethink the desirability of their continuance on the commission .

According to the exposé, Sukhbir Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have felt obliged to take the unprecedented step of alerting the cabinet secretary about the goings on within the commission.

It is to be noted that as per the terms of appointment of the three member ECI, the three are equals in all manner of prerogative, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) being ceremonially first among equals.

It is also stated in those terms of appointment that no decisions can be made by the commission except with mutual consent, or with a majority of two, and that the CEC has no extraordinary authority to bypass that stipulation.

Indeed, after what has emerged, and with more possibly in the offing, every law-abiding citizen would expect Gyanesh Kumar to consider his own position.

Also read: Questions May Be About Gyanesh, But the Question Mark Is on Modi’s Democratic Legitimacy

In the meanwhile, the revelations seem already to warrant a complete rescinding of the so called Special Intensive Revision exercise which now seems to have been more a special rigging one, and to revert to the electoral rolls that pre-exist this dystopian endeavour of a coloured SIR.

Meanwhile, every harassed and duped citizen must call upon the media as a whole to jettison greed and pusillanimity and go back to good old-fashioned journalism — that is if the corporates who own them truly desire a credible democracy in addition to profit maximisation.

Some weeks ago this columnist had popped the question to the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) that they need now to worry about the subversion of the electoral system per se if all their other efforts were to have meaning.

It is heartening that they have now taken note of this reality and called for Gyanesh Kumar to demit office within 48 hours.

Badri Raina taught at Delhi University.

This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.

For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.

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