Digvijaya Singh moves SC over SIR irregularities, says notices issued to EC and Centre
Congress leader alleges that changes to voter registration procedures and bulk objections led to the removal of eligible voters from electoral rolls
Digvijaya Singh says the Supreme Court has issued notices to the Election Commission and Centre over his petition challenging alleged SIR irregularities.
The Congress leader accuses chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of bypassing the other election commissioners and undermining voter registration safeguards.
Singh alleges that crores of voters were removed from electoral rolls without proper verification.
Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh on Thursday said the Supreme Court had issued notices to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Union government in response to his petition alleging irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Addressing a press conference in Bhopal, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister accused chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of attempting to disenfranchise voters through the SIR process. The Opposition has been demanding Kumar's resignation and the reversal of the exercise.
Singh said he had filed a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution on 12 October and that the Supreme Court had accepted it on Thursday.
He alleged that Kumar had taken decisions without consulting the other two election commissioners, disregarding their objections. Singh claimed that more than 13 crore eligible voters had been deleted from electoral rolls to benefit the BJP.
The Congress leader argued that decisions of the three-member Election Commission should be based on a majority and alleged that Kumar had acted unilaterally by preventing electoral registration officers (EROs) from updating data through the ECINET platform.
Referring to Article 326 of the Constitution, Singh said eligible citizens had the right to register as voters and that EROs were responsible for deciding the inclusion or deletion of names. He argued that statutory procedures could not be altered through electronic platforms or software.
Singh also questioned the ECI's addition of a declaration to Form 6, which is used for voter registration. He said applicants were asked whether their own names or those of their parents or grandparents appeared on electoral rolls from the previous SIR.
According to Singh, applicants could not submit online applications without providing the information and were warned of penalties for incorrect declarations. He alleged that the change was made without legal authority and contributed to the deletion of large numbers of voters.
The Congress leader also questioned the handling of Form 7 objections, which can be filed to seek the removal of a voter's name. He alleged that crores of names had been deleted without proper verification on the basis of objections submitted in bulk by unidentified individuals.
The allegations against the Election Commission were made by Singh at the press conference. The report did not include a response from the ECI or the Union government to his claims.