>"Why do CEOs of Karnataka and other States require a complainant, who has brought to their notice a few verifiable facts, to file a sworn statement to justify his complaint? Should they not feel concerned about Electoral Rolls being prepared erroneously? Isn't the Election Commission concerned about it?" ---------------- By: EAS Sarma Published in: *Countercurrents.org* Date: August 8, 2025 Source: https://countercurrents.org/2025/08/the-election-commission-should-investigate-the-complaint-of-electoral-fraud/
To Shri Gyanesh Kumar Chief Election Commissioner Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu Election Commissioner Dr Vivek Joshi Election Commissioner Dear S/Shri Gyanesh Kumar, Sandhu and Joshi, Please refer to my letter of 7-8-2025 <https://countercurrents.org/2025/08/the-election-commission-should-take-the-public-into-confidence-and-correct-its-procedures-and-practices/> on a press meet held by the leader of a national political party yesterday, alleging manipulation of electoral rolls in one constituency in Karnataka and elsewhere, and, perhaps, on your advice, the CEO of Karnataka and the CEOs of other concerned States promptly issuing notices to that political party to “*substantiate* *his claims of electoral fraud with a signed declaration under oath, as per Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960*“ When a political party or a citizen makes a complaint with some factual details, as a responsible Constitutional authority, the Election Commission is expected to treat that complaint as a part of a useful feedback mechanism and investigate its veracity. Instead, I was surprised that the State CEOs should ask the complainant to submit a sworn affidavit. *It is like a passerby telling a house owner that he found a snake in his backyard and the owner of the house asking him to file a sworn affidavit, before he can take up verification of his complaint!* I have just come across a fact-check made by India Today ( https://www.indiatoday.in/cities/bengaluru/story/rahul-gandhi-ev-vote-fraud-bengaluru-mahadevapura-congress-india-today-muni-reddy-garden-votes-2768207-2025-08-080) of one part of the political party’s complaint. It is in Bengaluru Central constituency, in Booth No. 470 in Mahadevapura, where 80 voters were registered at a 10-15 sq ft house in Muni Reddy Garden. The newspaper team’s report more or less substantiates the allegation made and another political party’s indirect involvement in it. If this is true, the Election Commission should feel worried about its being a part of a larger Electoral Rolls scam. Why did not the Karnataka CEO show the same anxiety as the newspaper team has, deploy his personnel to ascertain the facts, so as to satisfy himself of the veracity of the complaint? Why does he need a sworn statement to trigger his anxiety? Does he not have the responsibility to make sure that the Electoral Rolls are prepared in an authentic manner? Should he not be worried that the Electoral Rolls prepared under his nose have serious errors? S/Shri Gyanesh Kumar, Sandhu and Joshi, please ponder over the fact that (i) you occupy a Constitutional position that obligates you to conduct elections in a free and fair manner, (ii) the effectiveness of your role critically depends on the public trust you elicit by the way your respond to complaints and (iii) you owe your authority and derive your obligations from the Constitution, brought into existence by “*WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA”, *to whom you should remain always fully accountable, not to the executive. The status and effectiveness of an institution like the Election Commission depends on how the three of you collectively perceive it and how you function so as to justify your role. It is a fact that you owe your appointment to a committee dominated by the Executive, constituted in deviation of the apex court’s guidelines in a judgement delivered on March 2, 2023 (*Anoop Baranwal v Union of India* <https://www.scobserver.in/cases/anoop-baranwal-v-union-of-india-election-commission-appointments-background/>) and that is the special reason why the public expect you to go out of the way to establish the apolitical nature of your role, in order to dispel any possible impression that you are taking sides. I hope you will appreciate my concern and my sincere wish that you will give weight to what I am saying. All the best, Yours sincerely, E A S Sarma Former Secretary to the Government of India Visakhapatnam
