New Delhi, Oct 27: The Congress on Tuesday described the Election Commission’s affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as “deceptive, deceitful and duplicitous”, asserting that it is “extremely damaging” to itself.
Taking a swipe at the poll body, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. And when we have done it for a while, it comes out in a crooked style.”
His remarks came after the EC strongly defended SIR before the Supreme Court, maintaining that the exercise was authorised by law and the relevant orders were approved unanimously by all three members of the poll body.
Rejecting the allegations that Form 6 had been amended, the poll panel, in its 248-page response to the petition against the chief the election commissioner (CEC) and the decisions taken by it, said that no changes were made to the statutory Form 6 used for voter registration.
Reacting to the affidavit, Ramesh said the EC’s affidavit is “deceptive, deceitful and duplicitous”.
“It is also extremely damaging – to itself,” he said on X.
Alleging “illegal amendment” of Form 6, Ramesh said the EC has engaged in patent deception and word games on this point.
“First, it claimed that the new declaration attached to Form 6 was upheld by the Supreme Court, which the Court subsequently contradicted. Second, it now claims that the new declaration form is separate, and Form 6 was not amended. But this is a deception — Form 6 could not be submitted online without filling this mandatory declaration,” he said.
Claiming that the EC’s own stand keeps changing, Ramesh said that on September 26, it said this declaration was attached to Form 6 but now says it is not a part of Form 6.
“The ECI cannot cover up its blatant violation of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960,” he said.
Alleging unilateral decisions by CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Ramesh said the EC has shifted the goalposts by claiming the major SIR orders were formally approved by all three ECs.
“But the two ECs objected on record to grave violations and illegal actions taking place on the orders of the CEC – their objections were disregarded. The ECs were not even informed and learnt of these decisions from the news. This is not unanimity but unilateral decision-making,” Ramesh said.
Claiming that there was illegal centralisation by ECINET, the Congress leader said the use of ECINET to centralise control over electoral rolls and override the electoral registration officers (EROs), who are the statutory authority, was put on file by the two ECs.
“Evidence of EROs being overruled has come from nearly every SIR state: Goa, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to name a few,” Ramesh said.
Calling the IT division of EC “rogue”, Ramesh said the ECs repeatedly expressed concern that the IT division operates opaquely, oversteps its mandate and takes unauthorised actions.
“They wrote to the Cabinet Secretary about their concerns on ECINET and the functioning of the IT division. Many more revelations about the mess around the IT division have emerged since. There has been no change in its operation, nor any action on these issues,” Ramesh said.
Terming the SIR a “disaster”, Ramesh said numerous illegalities and violations have emerged around the SIR process and in nearly every state, Form 7 has been misused for mass deletions.
Ramesh said the affidavit does not deny the veracity of the ongoing revelations in large sections of the media.
“This is another confirmation of the gross malpractice and legal violations by the CEC,” he claimed. (PTI)
