00:00But the big story that's breaking this evening, the Election Commission of India has filed an affidavit in the Supreme
00:06Court
00:06where the Election Commission has denied unilateral decision-making by the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
00:14The Election Commissioners, the Commission of India Affidavit, accessed by India Today,
00:19has said that all decisions were approved unanimously by the CEC and two ECs.
00:23The Election Commission says Form 6 was not amended. As is being suggested, only the centre can do it.
00:31So there was no violation of any law. According to the EC, the SIR declaration in Form 6,
00:37where you had to do mapping, was a separate document.
00:41EC says unmapped voters need not attend hearings. BLOs will now collect documents from unmapped voters.
00:49EC claims no name added or deleted without the nod of the state election officer.
00:57EC says experts from IIT and IISC will check the software.
01:01EC says Bengal appeals against voters filed by officers of the CEO, the Chief Electoral Officer.
01:10So the EC trying in a way to answer its critics now in that affidavit.
01:16But Anisha Mathur, again, this will leave more questions than answers, particularly over Form 6 and what has been said
01:24in the affidavit,
01:25where the EC says this is now a separate document.
01:28But is this a point-by-point rebuttal? What more details can you give about the EC's affidavit?
01:37See Rajdeep, remember the Supreme Court had issued notice on the 5th of October and had asked for a detailed
01:44response
01:45from the Election Commission and from the individual Election Commissioners on the allegations that had been raised
01:51about unilateral decision-making, about changes in Form 6, about voters being inconvenienced
01:59and, you know, people being booted out of the voter rolls.
02:03The Election Commission has filed a short affidavit stating specifically that this affidavit has been approved for filing
02:12by a unanimous decision of the three members of the Election Commission.
02:15They've also said that this is a short affidavit that is being filed because of the Dashehra vacations
02:22and that is why they've asked for time for specific point-by-point Paraguay's response
02:27to the petitions that have been filed.
02:29Remember, tomorrow is when the Supreme Court is set to hear about nine petitions on the same issues.
02:34First of all, they've said that the three SIR orders of June 25 as well as October 25 and May
02:4426
02:45were issued unanimously after a decision-making process that was done
02:50according to the rules under the Constitution and the Election Commissioners Act.
02:54They've also said that any allegations to the contrary, and I'm reading from the affidavit here,
03:00any all contentions to the contrary are erroneous and denied,
03:04and the attempt to make aspersions against the Election Commission is unfortunate.
03:09They've also said that the petition is based only on a single news article,
03:13that the questions have been raised regarding integrity of the Election Commission,
03:19and that is why they have now clarified the process of decision-making
03:23that is followed by the Election Commission.
03:26And they've said, in fact, that there is a process by which files are circulated
03:31among the three Election Commissioners,
03:33that views are placed by the views of the EC as well as the CECs
03:39and the other officials are placed before the Election Commission.
03:43And after considering all the views, the decisions are taken and orders are issued.
03:47And if you can give me 30 more seconds, Rajdeep, there's one more point.
03:51There was a whole controversy over the work allocation orders that had been issued,
03:57and after which the two Election Commissioners had written to the Cabinet Secretary
04:02against that particular work order.
04:03The Election Commission affidavit has now clarified that that letter had been issued
04:09by an IELTS officer who had been sent on deputation to the Election Commission,
04:13and after the objections had been raised by the ECs,
04:16that particular work allocation order was never implemented.
04:20They've also argued that the quasi-judicial and other functions
04:24are directly under the ambit of the Election Commission as a whole.
04:28Some powers are delegated to the CEC as the chairman,
04:32and some powers are delegated to the officers
04:35who work under the supervision of the Commission itself.
04:39They've in fact also argued that communications that are issued,
04:44there are certain communications that are issued,
04:47there are documentations that are issued in the name of the Commission.
04:51What is more important for the voters is that the Election Commission
04:56has unequivocally said that Form 6 has not been amended.
05:00They've said that there is a declaration that has been added to the Form 6,
05:05and in fact they have justified that declaration,
05:09the mapping, voter mapping that we've been talking about for several months now, Rajdeep.
05:14They have said that voter mapping was introduced
05:18after the experience of the Bihar SIR, where mapping was not available,
05:23and that is why voters had to submit a number of documents
05:27and had to undergo a lot of verification and resubmission.
05:31In fact, they've said that the need to make, and I'm quoting again,
05:37the need to make all facilities to the statutory authorities
05:40and voters on an online platform,
05:42there were steps taken by officers to whom responsibilities have been assigned,
05:47and on a review of the manner in which Form 6 and the declaration were displayed
05:52on the IT platform,
05:54some concerns arose for the reason that the manner in which the declaration was presented
05:59was such that it could be construed as though an amendment has been made.
06:04They've admitted that the online form,
06:06the online declaration was made in a way
06:10that people would feel that the form itself has been amended.
06:14However, they've clarified that Form 6 can only be amended by the centre,
06:19and the declaration was only a measure to enable a person seeking registration as a voter
06:24to dispense with the need for filing extra documents
06:27during the claims and objections period.
06:29So, a lot is being said in this affidavit, Rajdeep.
06:32We will keep analysing this, of course,
06:35particularly in the light of the hearing that is tomorrow in the Supreme Court.
06:39Back to you.
06:39Well, the truth of the matter is, the fact is that that particular decision on Form 6
06:44was described by one of the election commissioners as illegal and unauthorised.
06:49So, it's not simply just a decision that was taken.
06:52There will be questions that will be raised on specific points
06:55that were made during that decision-making process.
06:58But Anisha Mathur, for joining me with those details, appreciate your joining me.
07:03The big story, of course, the election commission now finally filing an affidavit
07:08before the Supreme Court, claiming that its decisions were unanimous
07:11and not only taken by the chief election commissioner.
