Sibal Says EC Should Sue If Dissent Report False, Warns of Treason Over Voter Deletions

Rajya Sabha member and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal said on Saturday that the Election Commission ought to file a defamation case if recent reports of internal dissent and the Opposition's allegations of vote theft are unfounded. Conversely, he argued, a case of treason would be made out if voter deletions and other contested moves were ordered centrally by the poll body.

Speaking in an interview, Sibal said the Commission "should take some legal action" if a newspaper report — which stated that two election commissioners had objected to certain decisions of the Gyanesh Kumar-led panel — was inconsistent with the record. He contended that a press note issued through a deputy director does not contradict that report, pointing out that the Commission's first note, dated September 24, carried no signature from any of the three commissioners and framed the objections as ordinary disagreements within a democratic decision-making process.

Sibal said the Commission had not addressed the centralisation of data, questions over changes to the voter enrolment process through Form 6, or the case of 97 people in Goa who were not re-included in the rolls after exclusion during the Special Intensive Revision. The Commission later issued a point-by-point clarification stating that 81 of those 97 had already been re-included, a response the Congress rejected as failing to address the original concerns.

Citing West Bengal, Sibal said more than 25 lakh voters were excluded from earlier rolls during the SIR on grounds of logical discrepancies, and claimed that tribunal decisions there showed 91 to 94 per cent of votes were wrongly deleted. He also referred to the report's claim that local electoral registration officers were denied access to the central ECINET portal in Goa, arguing that instructions must have come from those controlling the software in Delhi. The Commission's clarification said field officers have role-based access to ECINET under their statutory powers, and that a committee headed by a senior deputy election commissioner, including an independent expert, will review the system for compliance with the relevant Acts and Rules.

Asked about the Commission's assertions, Sibal said no accused ever admits wrongdoing. He called for an inquiry, suggesting that if the central government believed Gyanesh Kumar had acted wrongly, it should suspend him and order a probe. He also urged the Supreme Court to take note of the revelations, seek the Commission's files, seal them and examine them, noting that the SIR matter is already before the court.

He stressed that a vote carries welfare entitlements attached to it, and that taking away such benefits without legal means amounts to cheating. He further questioned why the BJP was defending the Commission. The BJP has said the latest clarification has ended the row and exposed a Congress plot to attack a constitutional body.