NEW DELHI: A letter written by 24 opposition parties and independent leaders to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Suriya Kan last month, accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) of behaving in a “rude” and “biased” manner during the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls, was published on Friday. The parties claimed that the practice was hasty, poorly implemented, and deprived thousands of voters of their right to vote, putting the country’s democratic process “at risk.”
The signatories included Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut and independent MP Kapil Sibal. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) also signed the letter despite its recent differences with the Congress over support for the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) after the Tamil Nadu elections. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which broke away from the India Bloc in 2025, was also among the signatories.
“All of us, representing like-minded political parties, vehemently opposed to the BJP, believe that the electoral process is being manipulated and the results in multiple instances do not reflect the will of the people,” the parties said.
Questioning the process of appointing election commissioners, the opposition claimed that “since 2014, almost every appointment made by the government has been of people closely associated with it and seen as brazenly carrying out government orders to manipulate election results.”
The parties also criticized the SIR practice, saying that the IEC justified it as a measure to improve the integrity of electoral rolls, but the result was the opposite.
“It was necessary to conduct the Special Intensive Review (SIR) process to purge the electoral rolls, according to the Chief Electoral Commissioner, to ensure their integrity. But the result is quite the opposite,” the letter said.
The Opposition further alleged that the Center removed the Chief Justice of India from the committee responsible for appointing the Chief Election Commissioner, allowing the ruling party to exercise greater control over appointments.
“There was unabashed open support for the BJP during the electoral processes and in their outcome,” the letter said, adding that the Election Commission of India remained silent when the BJP violated the Model Code of Conduct.
The parties alleged that the SIR process in Bihar and West Bengal relied heavily on documentation, making it exclusionary of poor and illiterate voters.
“Verification of voters based on filling of forms and production of documents, and questioning of citizenship, has resulted in disenfranchisement of voters. This is particularly true of the poor and uneducated, including Dalits, Adivasis, members of the minority community and migrant workers,” the letter said.
The opposition also alleged cases of forged signatures, submission of forms without voter approval, and inadequate grievance redressal mechanisms.
The letter also accused the IEC of arbitrarily deleting large numbers of names from the electoral rolls and criticized the deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) during the elections in West Bengal. It said around 3.5 lakh CAPF personnel were deployed during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, including around 2.4 lakh in West Bengal.
“It was clear that the West Bengal government was under siege with the presence of 2,000,000 Canadian police forces,” the parties said.
Referring to the legal challenges against the SIR process, the Opposition said the Supreme Court had set up 19 tribunals to hear the appeals. It cited a court headed by Justice TS Sivagnanam, where 1,717 out of 1,777 deletions were found to be unlawful.
“If the same ratio were applied to the other appeals pending before the 19 courts, it would mean that more than 25,000 voters were unable to cast their ballots due to an inherently flawed process,” the letter said. It also claimed that most of the deleted names were from constituencies where the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) was dominant.
The parties also questioned the transfer of 483 officials, including the then Chief Secretary and Home Minister, claiming that they were replaced by officers approved by the Election Commission of India. They also raised concerns over the appointment of officials at the counting centres, alleging that representatives handpicked by the Union government and the returning officer were present, while no AITC candidate was included.
“Apart from electoral rolls, serious questions also arise about the electronic voting process, and in particular about the role of electronic voting machines,” the letter said, calling for the use of paper ballots where appropriate.
The opposition also accused central investigative agencies of using them selectively against political rivals. “We find, and it is of great concern, that government agencies, particularly the Central Bank of Iraq, the Executive Director and the National Intelligence Agency, are being used solely to target dissidents,” the letter said.
The parties urged the Chief Justice to suspend the exercise of SIR and restore the integrity of the electoral process, concluding that “when all else fails, people still place their trust in the judiciary. So when the judiciary fails to respond, it indicates a complete collapse of the republic.”
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