A collective of 124 former Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and allied services officers have publicly voiced their support for the Election Commission of India (ECI). In a strongly worded open letter addressed to Indian citizens, the former bureaucrats rejected claims of vote rigging and defended the integrity of the electoral process, including the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The signatories, including notable figures like former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal and former IAS officers R.D. Kapur, Samirendra Chatterjee, Gopal Krishna, Vivek Bhardwaj, and Navneet Sehgal, emphasized that modern Indian elections are fortified by robust, multi-layered safeguards. These include rigorous polling agent oversight, tamper-proof Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) sealing, secure strong-room facilities, and voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) verification, ensuring transparency and accountability.
Contrasting Past and Present Electoral Integrity
The officers drew a stark contrast between current electoral practices and the past, which was often marred by widespread booth capturing, ballot-box stuffing, and violence. They cited the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections as a prime example of improved electoral management, noting that these polls recorded no re-polling for the first time in history, achieved the highest voter turnout since 1951, and saw record participation by women.
Addressing Critics and Upholding Fairness
In a direct challenge to those who criticize the electoral process, the letter stated, "A system cannot be honest when you win and rigged when you lose." It underscored that under the current Election Commission, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had lost numerous state elections, including in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Jharkhand, and Jammu and Kashmir, as well as its parliamentary majority in 2024. This, they argued, demonstrates the ECI's impartiality.
Defending Special Intensive Revision (SIR)
The former civil servants also defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) conducted in Bihar. This initiative, the first intensive revision since 2003, successfully identified approximately 22 million deceased electors, 7 million duplicate entries, and millions of migrated individuals. Simultaneously, it added around 2.15 million new voters, purifying the electoral rolls and enhancing their accuracy.
The letter also referenced the Supreme Court's consistent upholding of the Election Commission's authority under Article 324 of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, which mandates rigorous oversight and safeguards for voters. Concluding their statement, the signatories affirmed a citizen's right to question but stressed that the burden of proof for allegations lies with the accuser. They warned that repetitive, unproven claims of vote rigging severely undermine public trust in democratic institutions.