Say irregularities in conduct of election has thrown 2019 mandate into doubt

Listing out serious irregularities in the conduct of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, a group of former senior civil servants has said that “there is no doubt that the mandate of 2019 has been thrown into serious doubt.”

In an open letter to the Election Commission of India, 64 retired IAS, IFS and IPS officers said, “The 2019 General Elections appear to have been one of the least free and fair elections that the country has had in the past three decades or so.”

The issues raised in the letter include serious violations of the Model Code of Conduct by the Prime Minister and senior BJP leaders, which were ignored by the ECI; allegations of voter exclusion; blatant media violations including the rise of Namo TV and suspicion of bias in the election schedule and a number of concerns related to Electronic Voting Machines, among other issues.

The letter, which was also endorsed by 83 veterans, academics and activists, accused the ECI of glaring bias. It warned that, unlike in previous elections, “an impression has gathered ground that our democratic process is being subverted and undermined by the very constitutional authority empowered to safeguard its sanctity.”

The retired officers criticised the ECI for ignoring hate speeches and communal statements by BJP leaders until it was pulled up by the Supreme Court, even then failing to take effective action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah. They held that the dissenting opinion of Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa on this issue should have been published.

The unexplained movements of EVMs and discrepancies in the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) count have also “left a cloud of confusion in the mind of the electorate”, said the letter, adding that “when we are using electronic systems, even a discrepancy of one vote throws the entire election into doubt.”