SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday called on Opposition parties to unite and raise the issue of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Parliament amid a row over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Speaking to reporters in Anantnag, Azad questioned the credibility of elections conducted after names were removed from electoral rolls and said the concerns raised by two Election Commissioners over the SIR exercise should be taken seriously.
“Now the Opposition should unite, decide in Parliament, and raise their voice,” Azad said.
His remarks came amid growing Opposition demands for action against Kumar following a report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections on at least 14 occasions over decisions and orders related to electoral rolls and the SIR process.
Azad said the issue could not be dismissed as merely a political allegation since the reported objections came from two members of the three-member Election Commission.
“It would have been considered wrong if it were merely an allegation. But all three were appointed by the current government. So, if two of them are saying this, we should trust it and believe those two people, and action should be taken on it,” he said.
According to the reported findings, the objections by Sandhu and Joshi covered issues including the registration of new voters, deletion and restoration of names from electoral rolls, appeals against voter-related orders and access to electoral-roll data.
The Election Commission, however, has maintained that differences in views and observations are part of normal institutional deliberations. It has said that its decisions, including those relating to the SIR, were taken unanimously by the full Commission and that its orders have legal sanction.
Azad said the controversy had also affected India’s longstanding image as a country known for holding free and fair elections.
He recalled the 1977 general election, when then prime minister Indira Gandhi and her party lost despite her political dominance, saying such examples had contributed to India’s democratic reputation internationally.
“We might not retain that pride, or we might not be in a position to claim that on an international level,” Azad said.
“Will people even believe it? Even if we say it, people need to believe it. That is why this has become a very major issue,” he added.
Azad, who quit the Congress and later founded the Democratic Progressive Azad Party, said the Opposition should collectively decide how to respond to the controversy.
