Democracy under assault: 272 ex judges, bureaucrats slam Rahul Gandhi for attacking Election Commission
A total of 272 people signed the letter, including 16 retired judges, 123 former bureaucrats, 133 retired Army officers, and 14 former ambassadors.
PTC News Desk: A group of more than 200 retired judges, civil servants, former Army officers, and diplomats has criticised the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi for making serious accusations against the Election Commission as part of the party’s ‘vote chori’ campaign. In an open letter, the group said these claims are simply an attempt to “hide political frustration by pretending there is an institutional crisis.”
A total of 272 people signed the letter, including 16 retired judges, 123 former bureaucrats, 133 retired Army officers, and 14 former ambassadors.
In the letter, they said that India’s democracy is being attacked not by force but by “harmful rhetoric” aimed at important institutions. They said some political leaders, instead of offering real policy ideas, are using dramatic but baseless allegations as a political tactic.
Slamming Gandhi, the letter says he has repeatedly attacked the Election Commission and declared that he has proof that the Election Commission is involved in vote theft. The letter describes the Congress leader's "atom bomb" remarks as "unbelievably uncouth rhetoric". "Yet, despite such scathing accusations, there has been no formal complaint filed by him, along with the prescribed sworn affidavit, to escape his accountability for levelling unsubstantiated allegations and threatening public servants in performance of their duty," it says.
"Moreover, several senior figures of Congress and other political parties, leftist NGOs, ideologically opinionated scholars, and a few attention seekers in other walks of life, have joined in with similarly blistering rhetoric against SIR, even declaring that the Commission has descended into complete shamelessness by acting like the 'B-team of the BJP'. Such fiery rhetoric may be emotionally powerful - but it collapses under scrutiny, because the ECI has publicly shared its SIR methodology, overseen verification by court-sanctioned means, removed ineligible names in a compliant manner, and added new eligible voters. This suggests that these accusations are an attempt to drape political frustration in the garb of institutional crisis," the statement says.
The letter says that after previously casting doubts on the Indian Armed Forces, the Judiciary, Parliament, and constitutional authorities, these leaders are now targeting the Election Commission of India with “planned and baseless attacks” on its honesty and credibility.
The Congress has accused the Election Commission of helping the ruling BJP carry out alleged vote fraud. Both the BJP and the Election Commission have strongly rejected these accusations.