Mumbai, Sep 29 (PTI) Maharashtra Congress on Tuesday demanded action against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the statutory powers of electoral registration officers to decide voter eligibility were being diluted through the ECI-Net system.
Reacting to media reports that Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam had sought restoration of powers of the sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs), Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe claimed certain officials had misused the software to classify voters and engineer electoral roll anomalies.
“If there are anomalies or discrepancies, the statutory authority to decide who is a voter and who is not rests with the ERO, that is, the SDM,” Londhe said.
These powers were being taken away through the ECI-Net system with the involvement of officials including Director General of IT Seema Khanna and Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg, he alleged, citing newspaper reports.
ECI-Net is a platform launched earlier this year to bring more than 40 existing EC applications and websites, including electoral roll services, under one umbrella.
The ECI and the CEC have come under fire after an Indian Express report claimed Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections on several occasions over decisions and orders regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The Opposition parties have accused Kumar of taking unilateral decisions in favour of the ruling establishment.
Londhe further claimed that Kumar’s appointment as the CEC was facilitated by changes to the selection process for election commissioners, including removing the Chief Justice of India from the selection committee and replacing him with a junior Union minister, giving the government a majority in the panel.
He also criticised the legal immunity granted to election commissioners, claiming that it protected them from civil and criminal proceedings for acts done while in office.
Referring to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and electoral rolls, Londhe alleged that an online application had been provided to party workers to classify voters using different colours.
He claimed saffron represented BJP voters, another colour represented Opposition voters and blue neutral voters.
“These allegations and the evidence now emerging provide an explanation for the issues party leader Rahul Gandhi had raised earlier,” he said.
Londhe urged Kumar to accept Gandhi’s advice to become an approver, saying this would help protect the credibility of democracy.
“Democracy is supreme. Nothing is greater than democracy in this country,” Londhe said. PTI MR ARU
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