00:00Now, the big news of the day is the Election Commission giving out a clarification on some of the reports
00:04emerging of the rift.
00:06Election Commission is denying if there was an internal rift over SIR exercise and that there was no formal dissent
00:12recorded on SIR and that it was a unanimous approval.
00:15The political party, especially of the opposition, the Congress party has jumped in on this and have said that clearly
00:22the CEC acted on his own measure, ignoring the observations.
00:25EC maintains observations were raised, examined that there was no formal dissent.
00:34All right, joining me now is a special guest.
00:37He has been the former Election Commissioner of India, in fact, the 22nd Election Commissioner, and has served knowing fully
00:44well and understands what happens in these cases.
00:47O.P. Rawat is joining me.
00:49Sir, thank you for speaking to India today and to help us understand what precisely is happening.
00:55What do you say to this, sir, to the reports emerging, to the political showdown about the dissent that was
01:01on SIR?
01:03And did the CEC, was it possible for the CEC to work completely by its own measure?
01:12All right, we'll try and get that communication line back on with the CEC.
01:17We are trying to get you, remember, the voices not just to criticize or appreciate or support,
01:22but to really understand what's been happening when it comes to the voter issues.
01:28How does the Election Commission go about it?
01:30Remember, Election Commission primarily is about three election commissioners.
01:33One is the CEC and then there are two other election commissioners as well.
01:37In this case, EC Joshi, EC Sandhu are part of that panel.
01:41And those images on your screen for that.
01:43Can it be possible that Gyanesh Kumar, the CEC, could have acted completely from his own violation
01:50and that did not really bother if there was a dissent coming in from other two election commissioners as well?
01:57And that is why trying to get you some clarity on what exactly happened.
02:00But this is a big story because, remember, opposition has constantly gone for the government at the centre
02:05and for the chief election commissioners specifically on the SIR maintaining this is an illegal exercise
02:12and that deliberately some voters are being deleted.
02:15The BJP or Modi government ministers maintain that this is an unbiased process
02:19because even BJP leaders, ministers in the government have received a notice from the election commission
02:27over the SIR exercise with regard to clarity needed on their names.
02:31So we'll try and help you understand what precisely is the status here,
02:35what happens within the election commission because according to the EC,
02:38no formal dissent was registered.
02:41And if there was any difference within the election commission, it was routine.
02:45But it raises a huge question mark.
02:47That was the SIR exercise that given an approval simply by the CEC, can that be possible?
02:55Is there a protocol, a procedure over it?
02:58Are the two other election commissioners not in support of the SIR exercise?
03:02It's clearly a shot in the arm for the Congress party.
03:05And the reports, even though being denied by the EC, but comes with a big question mark.
03:10With a massive scale on which the SIR exercise has been enrolled,
03:15especially when we are talking about some voter names that have either faced scrutiny.
03:22In fact, we are talking about over a crore of names that have been deleted.
03:27That is what has become a huge issue here.
03:30And the reports, then that is why, need complete clarification to come in from the election commission.
03:35So what the reports basically are saying that while this was a mass movement of clarity to come in,
03:41and is very simple in procedure of question and answer,
03:45and basic documents are helping to be able to, for you to register as a voter.
03:50According to the government and according to the election commission,
03:53this clarity was needed.
03:54And especially to understand that even though over six crore voters possibly were dropped from the role revision,
04:03and therefore that is why the charge that emerged, if there was arbitrary behaviour,
04:08there was exclusion of a certain kind.
04:11But for now, remember that it is the discrepancy that is being discussed here.
04:17And most importantly, was there a push by one chief election commissioner,
04:23even though the other officials, other election commissioners, disapproved of it.
04:29Amit Bhardwa joins me for the latest on that.
04:33Amit, you tell me, what kind of political showdown are we expecting on this?
04:37And any more reactions that you are getting on this story?
04:41How is the opposition going to push for it?
04:43I am trying to understand here that the order that was signed must have been signed by all the officials.
04:51So how does it then stand that their dissent can be of concern?
05:00Pooja, the opposition parties and including experts like Kapil Sibbal are saying that
05:05there is a possibility of all these commissioners signing the order.
05:08And we do not know in what circumstances those signatures were made.
05:14But it is very evident and clear that 14 dissent notes in 10 months cannot be ignored.
05:21And these are of the concerns that were very much raised by the opposition parties.
05:25So they are saying that the very fact that these commissioners said that decisions were being taken
05:30without their consent, without the majority vote, is vindicating the stand that the opposition parties have had
05:37in Bihar, in West Bengal, in Delhi, in Maharashtra, in Haryana.
05:42So that's what they are pointing out at.
05:45They are also saying that if you go by Trenmul Congress demand,
05:48they are saying that the petition of impeachment motion against CEC Gyanesh Kumar
05:52should be acted upon immediately.
05:54That petition was prepared and signed for Rajasabha.
05:58Number one, there are parties like Aam Admi Party.
06:02I just spoke to Sanjay Singh of the Aam Admi Party saying that mayor impeachment is not solution.
06:07There should be legal action initiated against CEC Gyanesh Kumar and he should be arrested.
06:13I quote, this is what Aam Admi Party and Sanjay Singh is demanded,
06:16arresting of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
06:19The Congress party has made very serious allegations against CEC Gyanesh Kumar,
06:24saying again, going back to the past election, saying that look what opposition parties were speaking of
06:29is actually, you know, appearing to be true.
06:33And among all the observations or dissent notes that are being cited,
06:39what is troubling the opposition parties most is the centralization of the electoral rolls
06:46as indicated, as being reported.
06:48Now, what opposition parties were alleging during elections is that it is not the ERO or the SDM
06:55or the state commission where the mass level deletion is happening in the electoral rolls.
07:01Rather, somebody sitting in Delhi, in Nirvachan Bhavan is doing that.
07:05And now if you look at the expose or the mega claims that are being made at this point in
07:10time,
07:10there are objections that both these commissioners, Mr. Sandhu and Mr. Joshi,
07:16had made out about in connection to the, you know, digital or the tech aspect of the electoral rolls
07:22and a centralization of that as to how certain state election commissioners did not have full access to the ECI
07:29portal,
07:30which was, you know, in a way not going by the constitutional laid down methods and SOPs.
07:36So, this is what opposition parties are talking about more and they are underlining it again and again.
07:43Congress party did it.
07:44Turanamul Congress did it.
07:45And now, Aam Admi party is also speaking off as to how we were saying it in the past as
07:50well.
07:50And now, we stand vindicated that somebody sitting in Delhi was actually deleting the names of the voters.
07:57Back to you.
07:58If there's a word that has come in from the Bhartia Janata Party, from the government on this,
08:04because it's basically the showdown is not as much against targeting of the CEC, but of the Modi government here.
08:11So, any word yet that has come in from the ruling party of the government?
08:18Well, we have yet to see any, you know, press conference or direct statement in defense of the CEC in
08:25this particular regard from the Bhartia Janata Party.
08:27We had seen that in the past as well.
08:28When the opposition parties would hold press conferences against the election commissioner, chief election commissioner, the EC's conduct,
08:37after a gap, after a gap of a few hours, you would see that the BJP would hold press conferences
08:43in defense of the election commission of India or CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
08:47So, is the BJP taking that time to actually assess what are the allegations made, what are the questions being
08:56reportedly, you know, in this particular investigation,
08:59as well as what are the key points of attack by the opposition parties?
09:04So, we have seen the Trenumul Congress making their attack clear, the Amadmi Party making their attack clear.
09:10The Congress Party is to hold a press conference at 1 p.m.
09:13And Mr. Kapal Simbal did it in the morning itself.
09:16So, if at all the BJP has to respond, it will first assess the entire situation, the technicalities of what
09:24is being alleged and what is the stand of the major opposition parties.
09:28We are yet to hear a major allegation coming out from the Samajwadi party.
09:33It is a state where all eyes would be.
09:35The elections are to happen in March.
09:37So, in fact, Samajwadi party could also jump into the entire debate targeting the election commission, as well as the
09:45CEC Gyanesh Kumar in this regard.
09:47Back to you.
09:48Backing the latest on that.
09:49Remember, this is a very crucial exercise.
09:52To have the names deleted from voter list can be a huge concern, and especially for a certain category of
10:00people, especially they are from underprivileged backgrounds.
10:02And at a time when ministers are also getting notices served, how will the EC clarify the reports that there
10:08were some officials who were not supportive of the SR exercise?
10:12We'll be tracking that and more.
10:13We'll be tracking that and more.
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