जब रेफ़री भी गलती करे: चुनाव आयोग विवाद को समझाया 7 मुख्य प्रश्नों में

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- When the referee fumbles: Election Commission row explained in 7 key questions

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NEW DELHI: Elections are, by their very nature, a contest.Political parties fight for ground, candidates wage fierce campaigns and voters ultimately decide whom to trust with their mandate.Through it all, the Election Commission is meant to stand apart and monitor the process. Its role is to frame the rules, enforce them fairly and ensure that the contest remains even-handed.Yet, in recent days, the spotlight has moved away from those fighting the election and towards the institution meant to referee it.The players are no longer the only ones under scrutiny. Increasingly, the referee itself has become the subject of the debate.A report in The Indian Express claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi repeatedly raised objections with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over decisions and communications that they said were issued without their knowledge or approval.The Election Commission has rejected the suggestion that the episode points to a breakdown in its functioning. It has maintained that differences of opinion are a normal part of institutional deliberation and that all final decisions of the Commission have been unanimous.

- Changes to Form 6: The two commissioners reportedly objected to changes made to Form 6, the application citizens use to register as new electors, without following due process. In May, Joshi warned that the form could not be altered without an amendment to the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. On August 13, Sandhu reportedly described the change as "unauthorised and illegal" and called for its immediate removal.

- Access to electoral roll data: The commissioners also reportedly raised concerns about whether statutory authorities responsible for maintaining electoral rolls had complete access to voter data on the ERONet portal. Joshi flagged what he described as the "gradual centralisation of the electoral roll database" and proposed an audit to establish that only authorised officials had credentials to modify voter data. Sandhu, separately, recorded that state-level election officials had complained of not having "proper and complete access" to ERONet. He also questioned whether the Commission's director general of IT, Seema Khanna, had the legal authority to restrict access for statutory officials such as Electoral Registration Officers.

- Changes in work allocation: Joshi and Sandhu reportedly wrote separately to the cabinet secretary objecting to changes in the allocation of work that removed a layer of oversight over the Commission's IT infrastructure. They said the changes had been made without their knowledge.

- West Bengal SIR appeals: During the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal, the Election Commission filed around 16.10 lakh appeals involving voters whose names judicial officers had added. The appeals were heard by tribunals headed by retired high court judges appointed by the Supreme Court. According to the report, neither the two election commissioners nor West Bengal's chief electoral officer were informed about the basis or process for filing these appeals.

- Restoration of voters in Goa: Another concern reportedly involved 97 eligible voters whose names had to be restored to Goa's electoral rolls. Despite repeated requests from Electoral Registration Officers, the voters could not initially be restored because the ECI's software did not have an option for reinstatement.

- Communications issued in the ECI's name: The two commissioners also reportedly objected to communications being issued in the Election Commission's name without what they considered to be the Commission's full approval. They cited Article 324 of the Constitution as well as the 2023 law governing the poll panel.

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