Kashmir Impulse Desk
New Delhi, Oct 10
A group of 124 former civil servants, including retired Indian Administrative Service and Indian Foreign Service officers, has defended India’s Election Commission and its Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, arguing that allegations of vote rigging require credible evidence.
In an open letter to citizens, the former officials said India’s electoral system had developed multiple safeguards since periods marked by booth capturing, ballot-box stuffing and election-related violence.
They cited the role of polling agents, the sealing of electronic voting machines, security at strongrooms and verification through voter-verifiable paper audit trails as checks designed to protect electoral integrity.
The signatories also referred to last year’s Bihar Assembly elections, which they said recorded no repolling and the highest voter turnout since 1951.
“A system cannot be honest when you win and rigged when you lose,” the letter said.
The former officials argued that the Election Commission’s record could not be judged solely on the basis of electoral outcomes, noting that the BJP had lost several state elections under the same commission and failed to retain its parliamentary majority in the 2024 general election.
The signatories included former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal and former IAS officers R.D. Kapur, Samirendra Chatterjee, Gopal Krishna, Vivek Bhardwaj and Navneet Sehgal.
Their intervention comes amid opposition allegations of electoral irregularities and protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the revision of electoral rolls.
