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Mainstream, VOL 62 No 15, April 13, 2024
Open letter From Former State Officials to the Election Commission of India - April 11, 2024
Friday 12 April 2024
#socialtagsIs There A Level Playing Field?
April 11, 2024
Dear Shri Rajiv Kumar/Shri Gyanesh Kumar/Dr. S.S. Sandhu,
We are a group of former civil servants who have served the Central and State governments in various capacities. We have no affiliation with any political party but are strongly committed to the ideals enshrined in the Constitution of India.
In the Election Commission of India (ECI) meeting with officers nominated as Election Observers on 11 March 2024, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) had stressed the importance of ensuring a level playing field for all political parties and candidates and keeping the polls free from intimidation and inducements. Just ten days after his exhortation, Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi was arrested, in what is known as the Delhi liquor policy case, under the draconian provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, where securing bail is extremely difficult. We are not questioning the right of law enforcement agencies to take steps to check corruption in high places and bring to book the guilty. What we are concerned about is the timing of this arrest. The liquor policy case has been investigated for over thirteen months and two prominent Aam Aadmi Party leaders have been in custody for months, with one of them, Sanjay Singh, being released on bail recently, while the former Depuy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia, continues in jail. Even if it is the case of the investigating agency that Mr. Kejriwal was evading summons to appear before them, nothing stopped them from questioning him, if necessary, at his residence. The arrest of a senior opposition political functionary at a juncture when the Lok Sabha elections had been announced and the Model Code of Conduct was in place reeks, to our mind, of deliberate, motivated executive action. The law must take its course, as many legal worthies today never tire of saying, but the heavens would not have fallen if coercive action had been initiated after the end of the election process on 4 June 2024. One could understand that in the case of a criminal investigation relating to the right to life of a citizen, immediate arrest may be warranted. Surely, this would not apply in the case of a prominent political figure who is hardly likely to be a flight risk and, in whose case, with the investigations having gone on for so many months, the possibilities of tampering with evidence and influencing witnesses are quite remote.
The AAP CM arrest is not an isolated instance. A disturbing pattern of harassment and witch hunting of opposition parties and opposition politicians on the cusp of the general elections calls into question the motivation of the agencies. It is puzzling why the Income Tax department should reopen old assessments of the Indian National Congress, as well as those of other opposition parties, that too on the eve of a general election. Carrying out searches of the premises related to Mahua Moitra, the Trinamool Congress politician who is a candidate in the Lok Sabha elections, at this juncture, and issuing notices to other opposition candidates, again defies explanation. Given the tardy record of the central law enforcement agencies in completing investigations and filing charge sheets, the undue zeal in selectively pursuing these cases gives rise to the suspicion that the motivation goes beyond a mere desire to enforce justice. More importantly, the arrest of political functionaries and the harassment of political parties after the election process has started not only deprives individuals of the exercise of their fundamental right under Article 19 of the Constitution of India to canvass for their candidates but also distracts political parties from focusing on the primary task of conducting their election campaign.
The pattern of events over the past month calls for firm action from the ECI to quell rising public suspicion that the ECI is sitting silent while a politics of vendetta is being practiced to deny opposition parties the freedom to actively participate in the election process. To ensure that this does not continue, we are of the view that, just as the entire government machinery in the states functions under the control and supervision of the ECI, activities of the machinery at the Central government level, especially the law enforcement agencies, should be controlled by the ECI through exercise of its powers under Article 324 of the Constitution of India. Else, if state government law enforcement agencies adopt an approach similar to that of the central agencies, the resulting anarchy would make a mess of the entire electoral process.
We are deeply disturbed by the failure of the ECI to take immediate action in this matter. Media reports show that a delegation of members of prominent opposition parties met the CEC and the Election Commissioners as long back as 21 March 2024. However, leave alone dealing with such arbitrary executive actions with a heavy hand, the ECI has not even issued a note of caution in this regard.
Our group has been interacting with the ECI since 2017 and has sent many letters to your predecessors: there has been no response from the ECI over the past five years. We note that the ECI has reneged from its earlier stand opposing electoral bonds. The ECI has made no efforts to assuage doubts in the minds of the thinking public and political parties about the integrity of EVMs and the need to use VVPATs effectively to ensure accuracy in the recording of votes, a matter that is now sub judice. Nor has the ECI been particularly effective in enforcing the Model Code of Conduct to check its misuse, especially by the party in power. Our group had pointed out many such instances in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections but, apart from minor slaps on the wrist, the ECI failed to enforce its writ on repeated offenders. In the current elections as well, infractions of the Model Code of Conduct by no less a personage than the Prime Minister have not been acted upon by the ECI even after these were brought to its notice[1][2].
In spite of the enormous powers vested in it under Article 324 of the Constitution of India, the ECI, in recent years, has exhibited a strange diffidence, especially in dealing with actions that impact the conduct of free and fair elections. We urge the ECI to live up to the shining legacy bequeathed by a line of eminent persons who have led the ECI in the past seven decades. The nation looks to you to act with firmness and determination to maintain the reputation and sanctity of the world’s largest electoral exercise.
SATYAMEVA JAYATE
Yours sincerely,
Constitutional Conduct Group (87 signatories:
1. Anita Agnihotri IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI
2. Anand Arni RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
3. G. Balachandhran IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
4. Vappala Balachandran IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
5. Gopalan Balagopal IAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
6. Chandrashekar Balakrishnan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Coal, GoI
7. Sushant Baliga Engineering Services (Retd.) Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI
8. Rana Banerji RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
9. Sharad Behar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
10. Aurobindo Behera IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha
11. Madhu Bhaduri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Portugal
12. Pradip Bhattacharya IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Development & Planning and Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of West Bengal
13. Nutan Guha Biswas IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Police Complaints Authority, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
14. Meeran C Borwankar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI
15. Ravi Budhiraja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI
16. Sundar Burra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
17. R. Chandramohan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
18. Rachel Chatterjee IAS (Retd.) Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh
19. Kalyani Chaudhuri IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
20. Gurjit Singh Cheema IAS (Retd.) Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab
21. F.T.R. Colaso IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir
22. Anna Dani IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
23. P.R. Dasgupta IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI
24. M.G. Devasahayam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana
25. Sushil Dubey IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Sweden
26. A.S. Dulat IPS (Retd.) Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI
27. K.P. Fabian IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Italy
28. Suresh K. Goel IFS (Retd.) Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI
29. H.S. Gujral IFoS (Retd.) Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab
30. Meena Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI
31. Wajahat Habibullah IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, GoI and former Chief Information Commissioner
32. Naini Jeyaseelan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI
33. Najeeb Jung IAS (Retd.) Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi
34. Sanjay Kaul IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka
35. Gita Kripalani IRS (Retd.) Former Member, Settlement Commission, GoI
36. Ish Kumar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission
37. Sudhir Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal
38. Subodh Lal IPoS (Resigned) Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI
39. Harsh Mander IAS (Retd.) Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
40. Amitabh Mathur IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
41. Lalit Mathur IAS (Retd.) Former Director General, National Institute of Rural Development, GoI
42. Aditi Mehta IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan
43. Shivshankar Menon IFS (Retd.) Former Foreign Secretary and Former National Security Adviser
44. Sonalini Mirchandani IFS (Resigned) GoI
45. Malay Mishra IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Hungary
46. Avinash Mohananey IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Sikkim
47. Satya Narayan Mohanty IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission
48. Deb Mukharji IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal
49. Shiv Shankar Mukherjee IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
50. Gautam Mukhopadhaya IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar
51. Sobha Nambisan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary (Planning), Govt. of Karnataka
52. Surendra Nath IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
53. P. Joy Oommen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh
54. Amitabha Pande IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI
55. Maxwell Pereira IPS (Retd.) Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi
56. G.K. Pillai IAS (Retd.) Former Home Secretary, GoI
57. Rajesh Prasad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to the Netherlands
58. Rajdeep Puri IRS (Resigned) Former Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI
59. T.R. Raghunandan IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI
60. N.K. Raghupathy IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI
61. V.P. Raja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission
62. V. Ramani
IAS (Retd.) Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra
63. K. Sujatha Rao IAS (Retd.) Former Health Secretary, GoI
64. M.Y. Rao IAS (Retd.)
65. Satwant Reddy IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI
66. Vijaya Latha Reddy IFS (Retd.) Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI
67. Julio Ribeiro IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Punjab
68. Aruna Roy IAS (Resigned)
69. Manabendra N. Roy IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
70. A.K. Samanta IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal
71. Deepak Sanan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
72. G.V. Venugopala Sarma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha
73. S. Satyabhama IAS (Retd.) Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI
74. N.C. Saxena IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI
75. A. Selvaraj IRS (Retd.) Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai, GoI
76. Abhijit Sengupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI
77. Aftab Seth IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Japan
78. Ashok Kumar Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia
79. Raju Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh
80. Avay Shukla IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary (Forests & Technical Education), Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
81. Satyavir Singh IRS (Retd.) Former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI
82. Tara Ajai Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka
83. Tirlochan Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI
84. Prakriti Srivastava IFoS (Retd.) Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Special Officer, Rebuild Kerala Development Programme, Govt. of Kerala
85. Anup Thakur IAS (Retd.) Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
86. P.S.S. Thomas IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission
87. Rudi Warjri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica
[The above letter from the Constitutional Conduct Group is reproduced here for educational and non commercial use]