Forty-two former judges and retired constitutional functionaries have come out in support of India’s election process, saying that it was being targeted as part of a concerted campaign to vitiate the credibility of the Election Commissioner, judiciary and other constitutional bodies.

In a closely-worded letter, the signatories said that they had no political brief and expressed concern that “in future, silence may cease to be a position of strength”, as criticism of election machinery, courts and other institutions was being used to malign the whole system in the country.

The letter puts the Election Commission at the centre of the controversy, with the retired judges objecting to allegations of “vote theft” made against it without any proof. They have questioned the propriety of referring to elected representatives as “thieves”, “puppets” and “compromised agents” as well as “violating the basic model of democracy”.

“Constitutional criticism is the right of citizens. Denigration is not,” the letter says.

Former Judges Defend SIR

 While defending the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the former judges have said that it was the “duty of the Election Commission to the nation” to ensure that voters’ names figured in the voters’ list.

They have cited Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which the Election Commission was empowered to revise electoral rolls periodically, as well as numerous past general elections.

They noted that intensive revision was a regular feature of all general elections since India’s first general election. They said that SIR sought to delete the names of persons who died and those of people living elsewhere along with those who had migrated as well as those who applied to be added to the voters’ lists.

The signatories of the letter have defended the Supreme Court’s order on SIR, saying that it found that the Election Commission’s action was not “arbitrary or irrational” but “lawful, legitimate and rational”.

“The process has the safeguards of notice, hearing, objection and appeal,” the letter adds.

Warning Over Erosion of Public Trust

 The letter warned that constant assertions that voters’ votes were being stolen “undermines the faith of citizens in the electoral process and, by extension, the faith of citizens in themselves as political actors. Trust is the currency of democracy. Its erosion will make democracy unviable. And the costs of its capture by self-interested entities will be.”

The former judges have asked India’s political parties to take to courts to challenge electoral “irregularities” as well as defend themselves in the judicial process.

They have also urged media houses to stop amplifying “unfounded allegations” saying “headlines are not evidence, and repetition does not convert allegations into facts”.

The signatories have urged citizens to conduct “due diligence” in verifying claims of “votes theft” as well as “in questioning the motives of those who would conduct such an inquisition”.

Constitutional institutions “belong to the nation and not to the government of the day,” the letter says. “We urge all citizens to remain vigilant in the preservation of the institutions that have served us so well. We remain, in service of the Constitution.”