Former Judges Claim Constitutional Bodies Under attack from Opposition.
As the Congress party has been upping its anti against the Chief Election Commissioner and demanding the resignation of Gyaneshwar Kumar, about 42 retired judges defended the EC against the opposition attack, saying that the SIR was a lawful exercise.
In an open letter to the “people of India”, the former judges of the Supreme Court and former chief justices and judges of various high courts said they hold no brief for any political party but felt compelled to speak as “silence is no longer a neutral choice”.
The former judges claimed that India’s constitutional bodies are under “sustained attack”, with the Election Commission of India at the centre of the assault.
“Even the higher judiciary, which we hold in high esteem, and statutory agencies have not been spared,” the letter pointed out.
They said the attacks were not reasoned criticism but appeared to be a “calculated campaign” driven by vested political interests, with little regard for the potentially devastating consequences of “destabilising the world’s largest democracy”.
The former judges described the attacks on the poll panel and other institutions as a “campaign without evidence”.
“Criticism of institutions is a democratic right. Denigration is not. Constitutional authorities are now branded ‘thieves’, ‘puppets’ and ‘compromised’ from public platforms,” they lamented.
On the SIR, the former judges noted that the electoral law empowers the EC to carry out revision of electoral rolls at any time.
They said SIRs had been carried out repeatedly since the first general elections, with the last such exercise completed about two decades ago. “No one called those revisions a conspiracy,” they said.
Meanwhile, BJP spokespersons at media conference said Why was Congress in a tearing hurry to make so much noise and stage dharnas on the street? Do they feel that their arguments would not stand the scrutiny of the Supreme Court? They said it would have been it they had waited for the judgement of the apex court.