Act against hate speech, ex-officers urge EC

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: As many as 102 former bureaucrats wrote an open letter to the Election Commission (EC) on Saturday complaining about a range of issues.

The complaints included the fact that the “reluctant” and hadn’t acted against hate speeches by the ruling party, malpractice in casting of votes, missing names in electoral rolls and the delay in publishing of the exact number of votes.

However, the EC did disclose seat-wise data on the number of votes cast later on in the day.The letter was signed by retired officers like MG Devasahayam, Shivshankar Menon, Wajahat Habibullah, GK Pillai, K Sujatha Rao, Harsh Mander and Meeran C Borwankar.

Devasahayam had written a book called ‘Electoral Democracy?: An Inquiry into the Fairness and Integrity of Elections in India’, calling the 2019 Lok Sabha polls “a lost election”.

“(There has been) little visible action against hate speech targeting both minorities and the opposition parties by senior leaders of the ruling party It would have been fitting for the Election Commission to publicly explain actions taken, and not taken, by the Commission to address these problems and allay the fears of the electorate. They should still do this without further delay and in a transparent manner,” the letter read.

“It pains us to say that no Election Commission in the past has been as reluctant as the present one to discharge its duties, despite violations being repeatedly brought to its attention by responsible organisations and respected members of society. We hope they will not continue to show this disregard in the time that is remaining,” it added.

Officers also demanded EC allay fears that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) machines can be tampered with.