New Delhi:
A group of 42 retired judges has written an open letter in which they have warned against attempts to undermine the Election Commission and other institutions. Such attempts, they argued, will erode people’s faith and when the “ballot loses meaning, the street gains it”. “Unrest begins with a narrative. Anarchic and fringe elements then occupy the vacuum. Some are homegrown. Some take their cues from beyond our borders,” added the strongly worded letter — which comes amid massive protests by the Opposition against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the voter list revision.
The retired judges have expressed grave concern over the ongoing campaign to undermine the Election Commission, judiciary and other constitutional institutions. They have questioned allegations of “vote theft” without supporting evidence, warning against repeatedly branding constitutional authorities as “thieves” and “compromised”.
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“We write because, in moments like these, silence is no longer a neutral choice. Our concern is grave. India’s constitutional bodies are under sustained attack,” the letter read.
“The Election Commission of India stands at the centre of this assault. Even the higher judiciary which we hold in high esteem, and statutory agencies have not been spared,” it added.
The attacks, the judges underscored, are not reasoned critique. “This appears to be a calculated campaign driven by vested political interests, with little regard for the potentially devastating consequences of destabilising the world’s largest democracy,” they wrote.
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Defending the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, the signatories emphasised that it is a legally established exercise aimed at ensuring clean and accurate voter lists.
“Trust is the currency of democracy,” the letter warned, cautioning that attempts to delegitimise elections could fuel unrest and embolden anarchic elements. While “Criticism of institutions is a democratic right. Denigration is not,” the letter read.
The letter included sharp jabs at the Congress and the Cockroach Janata Party, which are at the forefront of the agitation, without naming either.
“Allegations of “vote theft” are made at press conferences, not before courts. When the Commission seeks a sworn declaration, none is filed. Electronic Voting Machines are blamed only after defeat. Victories won on the same machines go unquestioned. A party that governed this nation for over five decades now claims that the very system which elected it is rigged,” the letter read.
“It does not act alone. Activist outfits with a long record of selective litigation lend these claims a veneer of legality. They file petition, one after the other. They seldom file proof. The courtroom becomes a stage, and when the judgment is delivered, it is criticised whenever it does not serve their interests. Vitriol is then amplified and disseminated on an industrial scale, with the deliberate aim of eroding public confidence in a well-established and widely trusted judicial system,” it added.
The signatories include former judges of the Supreme Court, Chief Justices of high courts, and others. Former Supreme Court Judges Justice Hemant Gupta, Justice Pankaj Mittal are among those who signed.
Earlier this week, former Supreme Court judge Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman expressed serious concerns over the Election Commission’s functioning, saying people’s right to vote “is at great peril” and “very, very disturbing things are happening in our country today”.
Seeking the Supreme Court’s intervention in the matter, he said, “You cannot have an Election Commission which functions or malfunctions like this”.
“All of you have seen that in the West Bengal election, 90 lakh voters – it’s an astounding figure – were disenfranchised. Now 90 lakh voters getting disenfranchised didn’t somehow move the Supreme Court enough to stay this, so that these 90 lakh voters were out when the Bengal election took place,” he said.
Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said any process that takes away the voting rights of a huge number of Indian citizens is “a negation of the constitutional order”. “No authority can do it; no court can condone it,” he had said.
