Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, has launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of undermining democratic processes and engaging in arbitrary decision-making during the special voter intensive revision (SIR) underway in Bihar.
In a post on X on Thursday, Ramesh said that a delegation from the INDIA bloc had sought a meeting with the Commission to raise concerns over the SIR. However, the Commission initially refused to meet them, relenting only “under pressure”.
"Yesterday evening, the delegation of the INDIA bloc met with the Election Commission regarding the special voter intensive revision (“SIR”) in Bihar. Initially, the Commission had refused to meet, but ultimately, under pressure, the delegation was called," Ramesh wrote. "The Commission arbitrarily allowed only two representatives from each party, due to which many of us could not meet with the Commission. I myself sat in the waiting room for almost two hours."
The senior Congress leader went on to criticise what he described as a pattern of behaviour by the Commission over the last six months that, in his view, is eroding democratic norms.
"Over the past six months, the Commission’s attitude has consistently been such that it weakens the basic structure of our democracy. The Election Commission is a constitutional body. It cannot regularly reject requests for hearings from the opposition. The Commission must work in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution and its provisions."
Ramesh also questioned the Commission’s authority to decide the modalities of political engagement, calling its internal rules "arbitrary".
"Most importantly, the Election Commission cannot make arbitrary rules for engaging with political parties—such as the number of representatives, their positions, or deciding who is authorised and who is not."
He further claimed that when the INDIA bloc delegation challenged the Commission’s conduct, the response they received was troubling.
"When the delegation called these rules arbitrary and misleading, the Commission responded: 'This is the new Commission.' Hearing this, the concern deepens—what will be the next move of this 'new' Commission? And how many more 'masterstrokes' are yet to be seen?"
Drawing a stark comparison to the 2016 demonetisation move, Ramesh warned that the ongoing SIR exercise could pose a severe threat to democratic integrity.
"Just as the 'demonetisation' of November 2016 dealt a severe blow to our economy, similarly, this 'voter suppression'—which is emerging in the form of SIR in Bihar and other states—will destroy our democracy."