124 Former Bureaucrats Write Open Letter Defending India’s Electoral Process Amid Row Over Voter Rolls and SIR

New Delhi — In an open letter addressed to the citizens of India, 124 former civil servants—including retired diplomats, former ambassadors, and retired IAS officers led by former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal—have come out strongly in defense of India's electoral machinery.

The letter cautions that unsubstantiated allegations targeting the conduct of elections risk eroding public trust in democratic institutions.

"We are writing this letter because nowadays the word 'rigged' is being used for our elections without any evidence," the signatories stated. "Repeating this word continuously weakens the people's trust in democracy."

Recalling Past Eras of Electoral Malpractice

The retired administrators drew comparisons between the present system and earlier decades marked by booth capturing, armed coercion, voter intimidation, ballot box stuffing, and the physical disenfranchisement of marginalized voters.

The letter noted that booth capturing was once so pervasive that Parliament had to explicitly criminalize it under the Representation of the People Act in 1989. Modern institutional checks, they argued, have substantially curbed such physical malpractices.

A Polarized Debate Involving Retired Judges and Citizens

The bureaucrats' letter surfaces amid sharp political polarization surrounding the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the ongoing Special Summary Revision (SIR) of voter lists, which has prompted protests from opposition parties and civil groups.

The intervention follows a series of divergent public stances from retired jurists and civil society:

• Support from Former Judges (Oct 8): 42 retired judges previously wrote a letter in support of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Commission's mandate.

• Justice Ujjal Bhuyan's Observation (Oct 4): Speaking at NALSAR University, sitting Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan remarked that any process that results in disenfranchising millions of eligible citizens is fundamentally arbitrary.

• Critique of Judicial Propriety (Oct 5): Former Chief Justice B.R. Gavai pointed out that sitting judges commenting publicly on matters that remain sub judice runs counter to judicial propriety.

• Justice V. Gopala Gowda's Stance (Oct 8): Former Supreme Court judge Justice V. Gopala Gowda argued that the decision regarding the SIR ought to be recalled, terming it unconstitutional and urging the top court to verify whether the decision was taken with the formal concurrence of the full commission.

• Citizen Petition by Over 2,000 Signatories: In September, over 2,000 citizens—including former Navy Chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, historian Aditya Mukherjee, and actor Prakash Raj—wrote to Chief Justice Surya Kant seeking a court-monitored investigation into voter list management and the ECINet portal.

Legal Challenges in the Supreme Court

Petitions challenging the SIR exercise and the statutory framework governing the appointment of election commissioners—specifically the exclusion of the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel—remain pending before the Supreme Court. While the court declined to grant an interim stay on October 5, it issued notices seeking a detailed response from the Election Commission, clarifying that administrative decisions could face reversal if procedural consensus was found lacking.