EC legally has no right to hold SIR; count all VVPATs or revert to paper ballots: Manish Tewari

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has no legal basis to conduct the SIR and it must be stopped, Congress MP Manish Tewari said on Tuesday and made a slew of suggestions for election reforms, including either mandating a 100 per cent counting of VVPAT slips or reverting to paper ballots.

Initiating the discussion on Election Reforms in the Lok Sabha, Tewari also called for disallowing direct cash transfers to people ahead of polls and adding two members -- the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the Chief Justice of India -- to the existing three-member panel to select the chief election commissioner and the two election commissioners.

The Congress leader said the 2023 law stipulates that the panel to select the election commission and the two election commissoners should comprise the prime minister, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and a Cabinet minister.

"It is my suggestion that two members should be added to this panel -- the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the Chief Justice of India," Tewari said.

If such a committee is formed then 'theek se khela hobe' and it will play an important role in removing the doubts over the Election Commission (EC), he said.

The Congress leader said that BR Ambedkar ensured that the EC would be a permanent body.

"It was expected of the EC that it will work as a neutral umpire, but regretfully I have to say that many members sitting on this side (pointing to opposition benches) and many people feel the need to raise questions over its neutrality," Tewari said.

Tewari also attacked the government over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) issue.

"I have to say with regret that the Special Intensive Revision (of electoral rolls) is being discussed throughout the country. The SIR is happening in many states, but I am saying with a lot of responsibility that legally, EC has no right to conduct SIR," Tewari said.

Reading from the laws made by the Parliament, he claimed that there is no provision for SIR in the Constitution or in the law.

"This is just a right to the EC that if there is anything wrong with the electoral roll of a constituency, it can correct it for reasons that need to be recorded in writing and made public. Only then you can conduct SIR, you cannot do SIR for the whole of Bihar, or for the whole of Kerala, or for the whole of West Bengal," the Congress leader said.

"If you have to do SIR then do it separately in constituencies where there is a problem with the electoral roll after recording the problems in writing, making them public, and then only it can carry out SIR. I would like to ask the government where are the reasons in writing," he said.

Tewari said the government must table in the House as to what problem was their with the electoral roll, what complaint the EC got and what inquiry it did.

It is unfortunate that on this basic question as to whether the EC has the right to conduct the SIR was not deliberated upon in the courts, he said, adding that this should have been done.

"My opinion is that there is no legal basis to conduct SIR but if you are doing it then why don't you give machine readable electoral rolls," he said.

Talking about EVMs, Tewari said when the electors stand in long queues they must have the confidence that the ballot that they are casting is reaching the right destination.

"I am not saying that EVMs are being manipulated, I am saying that people are concerned that EVMs can be manipulated. When people's faith on democracy is broken then it leads to anarchy and that is why it is very important... I had asked in Parliament as to who has source code of EVMs, I did not get an answer," he said.

The government must ask the EC and let us know that its source code, the mother board programme, is with the poll watchdog or with the companies, Tewari said.

"I say with a lot of responsibility that people's apprehensions can be removed only by two ways -- either 100 per cent counting of VVPATs is done or we go back to paper ballots, which is a better solution," the Congress MP said.

He said many countries such as Japan and the US reverted to paper ballot after using EVMs.

"What was the reason, the reason was that after all the EVMs are machines and any machine can be manipulated. If everything is fine with EVMs, then why not conduct the upcoming polls in Kerala, Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on paper ballot. The EC has to conduct the polls, what difference does it make to them whether it is through EVMs or paper ballots," Tewari said.

He argued that even if it takes 3-4 days for counting, at least the faith in democracy will be restored.

Tewari also raised the issue of "misuse of government money".

"When elections come, you start making cash transfers, what kind of democracy is that... just a month or a couple of months before elections you start transferring money in people's pockets. You can't win elections at the cost of the national exchequer or the state exchequer," Tewari said.

This will absolutely bankrupt our democracy and the country, he asserted.

Tewari said the SIR must be stopped.

"There is no provision in law which allows the SIR to go ahead. You will say that does this mean that the SIRs conducted earlier are also illegal, to which my answer is that multiple wrongs don't make a right, if someone did not see the law back then it does not mean that what is happening now is right," he said.

"There are news reports of BLO deaths... what kind of an SIR are we getting done," he asked.