Over 270 eminent citizens, including retired judges, bureaucrats, diplomats and former armed forces officers, have issued an open letter accusing Leader of the Opposition (Lok Sabha) Rahul Gandhi and several other Opposition leaders of attempting to “tarnish” constitutional institutions, the latest being the Election Commission, through “unsubstantiated accusations”.
The letter said some political leaders were resorting to “provocative” charges instead of offering policy alternatives, noting that institutions such as the armed forces, judiciary and Parliament had previously faced similar attacks. It alleged that the EC was now being subjected to “systematic and conspiratorial” attempts to damage its credibility.
According to the signatories, Mr. Gandhi has repeatedly accused the EC of “vote theft”, claiming to possess “100% proof” and using “uncouth rhetoric”, yet has not filed any formal complaint or affidavit to substantiate the accusations. They also criticised remarks suggesting that EC officials would be “hounded” after retirement.
“Moreover, several senior figures of Congress and other political parties, leftist NGOs, ideologically opinionated scholars, and a few attention seekers... have joined in with similarly blistering rhetoric against SIR (Special Intensive Revision), even declaring that the Commission has descended into complete shamelessness by acting like the ‘B-team of the BJP’,” they said.
