Ahead of Last Phase and Counting, Former Civil Servants Issue Appeal on Fair Poll Outcome
Indian Parliament. (File Photo by PTI)
New Delhi: Ahead of the final phase of polling on June 1 and the counting of votes on June 4, over a hundred former civil servants have expressed the hope that constitutional institutions and those holding constitutional posts will ensure that the faith of the people in India’s democracy and the integrity of fair elections is protected
“Immense care needs to be taken for the safe custody of the EVM machines in ways that involve all the competing candidates and parties. Returning officers need to commit themselves to announcing the results of the counting of votes in every case without any delay,” said an open statement issued by the Constitution Conduct Group (CCG), which consists of former civil servants who have served the Central and state governments in various capacities, having no affiliation with any political party and “strongly committed to the ideals enshrined in the Constitution of India.
The statement said “in the event of a hung parliament, onerous responsibilities will be placed upon the shoulders of the President of India. We are sure that she will follow the established democratic precedent of first inviting the pre-poll alliance that garnered the largest number of seats. Also, that she would endeavour to preempt the possibilities of horse-trading.”
The former civil servants expressed hope that the President of India will “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law” and devote herself “to the service and the well-being of the people of India”, especially the working poor, farmers, women and its youth, who have affirmed their abiding faith in India’s democracy by queueing up in large numbers even in the searing heat of summer.
Read the full statement below with the list of signatories to the CCG statement:
We are a group of former civil servants who have served the Central and State governments in various capacities. We have no affiliation with any political party but are strongly committed to the ideals enshrined in the Constitution of India.
June 4, 2024 will be the final chapter of the eighteenth general elections to the Parliament of the world’s most populous country; the largest democratic contest that the world has ever witnessed. During this massive exercise, more than anyone else, it is India’s working poor, its farmers, its women and its youth who have affirmed their abiding faith in India’s democracy by queueing up in large numbers even in the searing heat of summer.
Elections are a particularly testing time for institutions that are constitutionally vested with the responsibility of ensuring the integrity and fairness of elections. These include the higher judiciary, the election commission, chief electoral officers in every state and returning officers in every district.
To retain the faith of the ordinary citizen in these constitutional institutions vested with the onerous responsibility of the free and fair conduct of elections, it is necessary that these institutions must not only be fair but also appear to be fair. They must reassure the citizens of the fairness and integrity of the process through their consistently transparent and accountable functioning, and by continuously sharing information with the electorate.
During the 2024 general elections, concerns have been raised at many points about the fairness of the elections. These relate to fears that the EVM and VVPAT machines can be tampered with, instances of single persons unlawfully voting on behalf of many voters (some videos of this are in circulation), of many people, especially of vulnerable groups, finding their names missing from the voters’ lists, of the inexplicable refusal of the Election Commission of India to disclose the exact numbers of votes cast in each constituency, and of little visible action against hate speech targeting both minorities and the opposition parties by senior leaders of the ruling party. It would have been fitting for the Election Commission to publicly explain actions taken, and not taken, by the Commission to address these problems and allay the fears of the electorate. They should still do this without further delay and in a transparent manner.
It pains us to say that no Election Commission in the past has been as reluctant as the present one to discharge its duties, despite violations being repeatedly brought to its attention by responsible organisations and respected members of society. We hope they will not continue to show this disregard in the time that is remaining.
In the run-up to the counting, immense care needs to be taken for the safe custody of the EVM machines in ways that involve all the competing candidates and parties. Returning officers need to commit themselves to announcing the results of the counting of votes in every case without any delay.
In the event of a hung parliament, onerous responsibilities will be placed upon the shoulders of the President of India. We are sure that she will follow the established democratic precedent of first inviting the pre-poll alliance that garnered the largest number of seats. Also, that she would endeavour to preempt the possibilities of horse-trading.
On behalf of the citizens of India, we seek in humility to remind each of the authorities and institutions charged with the integrity of the process of democratic government formation of their paramount duty to abide and uphold the Constitution of India. We would like to remind them of the oath they have taken in this regard at the time of their assumption of office.
We bring forth the luminous pledge that India’s first citizen, the President of India, takes to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law” and to devote herself “to the service and the well-being of the people of India”. We are sure that this will be her guiding light.
SATYAMEVA JAYATE
Constitutional Conduct Group
|
1. |
Anita Agnihotri |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI |
|
2. |
Anand Arni |
RAS (Retd.) |
Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
|
3. |
Aruna Bagchee |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, GoI |
|
4. |
Sandeep Bagchee |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
|
5. |
Vappala Balachandran |
IPS (Retd.) |
Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
|
6. |
Gopalan Balagopal |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
|
7. |
Chandrashekar Balakrishnan |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Coal, GoI |
|
8. |
Sushant Baliga |
Engineering Services (Retd.) |
Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI |
|
9. |
Rana Banerji |
RAS (Retd.) |
Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
|
10. |
Sharad Behar |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
|
11. |
Aurobindo Behera |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha |
|
12. |
Nutan Guha Biswas |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Member, Police Complaints Authority, Govt. of NCT of Delhi |
|
13. |
Meeran C Borwankar |
IPS (Retd.) |
Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI |
|
14. |
Ravi Budhiraja |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI |
|
15. |
Sundar Burra |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
|
16. |
R. Chandramohan |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi |
|
17. |
Rachel Chatterjee |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh |
|
18. |
Ranjan Chatterjee |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Meghalaya & former Expert Member, National Green Tribunal |
|
19. |
Kalyani Chaudhuri |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
|
20. |
Gurjit Singh Cheema |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab |
|
21. |
F.T.R. Colaso |
IPS (Retd.) |
Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir |
|
22. |
Anna Dani |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
|
23. |
Vibha Puri Das |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI |
|
24. |
P.R. Dasgupta |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI |
|
25. |
Pradeep K. Deb |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI |
|
26. |
M.G. Devasahayam |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana |
|
27. |
Renu Sahni Dhar |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Principal Adviser to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh |
|
28. |
Sushil Dubey |
IFS (Retd.) |
Former Ambassador to Sweden |
|
29. |
A.S. Dulat |
IPS (Retd.) |
Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI |
|
30. |
K.P. Fabian |
IFS (Retd.) |
Former Ambassador to Italy |
|
31. |
Prabhu Ghate |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Addl. Director General, Department of Tourism, GoI |
|
32. |
Suresh K. Goel |
IFS (Retd.) |
Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI |
|
33. |
S.K. Guha |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoI |
|
34. |
H.S. Gujral |
IFoS (Retd.) |
Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab |
|
35. |
Meena Gupta |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI |
|
36. |
Ravi Vira Gupta |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India |
|
37. |
Wajahat Habibullah |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, GoI and former Chief Information Commissioner |
|
38. |
Sajjad Hassan |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Commissioner (Planning), Govt. of Manipur |
|
39. |
Naini Jeyaseelan |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI |
|
40. |
Najeeb Jung |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi |
|
41. |
Sanjay Kaul |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka |
|
42. |
Gita Kripalani |
IRS (Retd.) |
Former Member, Settlement Commission, GoI |
|
43. |
Brijesh Kumar |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI |
|
44. |
Ish Kumar |
IPS (Retd.) |
Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission |
|
45. |
Sudhir Kumar |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal |
|
46. |
Subodh Lal |
IPoS (Resigned) |
Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI |
|
47. |
Sandip Madan |
IAS (Resigned) |
Former Secretary, Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission |
|
48. |
Harsh Mander |
IAS (Retd.) |
Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
|
49. |
Amitabh Mathur |
IPS (Retd.) |
Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
|
50. |
Lalit Mathur |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Director General, National Institute of Rural Development, GoI |
|
51. |
Aditi Mehta |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan |
|
52. |
Shivshankar Menon |
IFS (Retd.) |
Former Foreign Secretary and Former National Security Adviser |
|
53. |
Sonalini Mirchandani |
IFS (Resigned) |
GoI |
|
54. |
Malay Mishra |
IFS (Retd.) |
Former Ambassador to Hungary |
|
55. |
Avinash Mohananey |
IPS (Retd.) |
Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Sikkim |
|
56. |
Satya Narayan Mohanty |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission |
|
57. |
Sudhansu Mohanty |
IDAS (Retd.) |
Former Financial Adviser (Defence Services), Ministry of Defence, GoI |
|
58. |
Anup Mukerji |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar |
|
59. |
Deb Mukharji |
IFS (Retd.) |
Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal |
|
60. |
Shiv Shankar Mukherjee |
IFS (Retd.) |
Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom |
|
61. |
Gautam Mukhopadhaya |
IFS (Retd.) |
Former Ambassador to Myanmar |
|
62. |
Sobha Nambisan |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Principal Secretary (Planning), Govt. of Karnataka |
|
63. |
Ramesh Narayanaswami |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi |
|
64. |
Surendra Nath |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
|
65. |
P. Joy Oommen |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh |
|
66. |
Amitabha Pande |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI |
|
67. |
Maxwell Pereira |
IPS (Retd.) |
Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi |
|
68. |
Alok Perti |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI |
|
69. |
G.K. Pillai |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Home Secretary, GoI |
|
70. |
R. Poornalingam |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI |
|
71. |
Rajesh Prasad |
IFS (Retd.) |
Former Ambassador to the Netherlands |
|
72. |
R.M. Premkumar |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
|
73. |
T.R. Raghunandan |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI |
|
74. |
N.K. Raghupathy |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI |
|
75. |
V. Ramani
|
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra |
|
76. |
M. Rameshkumar |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Member, Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal |
|
77. |
K. Sujatha Rao |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Health Secretary, GoI |
|
78. |
M.Y. Rao |
IAS (Retd.) |
|
|
79. |
Satwant Reddy |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI |
|
80. |
Vijaya Latha Reddy |
IFS (Retd.) |
Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI |
|
81. |
Julio Ribeiro |
IPS (Retd.) |
Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Punjab |
|
82. |
Aruna Roy |
IAS (Resigned) |
|
|
83. |
Deepak Sanan |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh |
|
84. |
S. Satyabhama |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI |
|
85. |
N.C. Saxena |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI |
|
86. |
Ardhendu Sen |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
|
87. |
Abhijit Sengupta |
IAS (Retd.) |
Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI |
|
88. |
Aftab Seth |
IFS (Retd.) |
Former Ambassador to Japan |
|
89. |
Ashok Kumar Sharma |
|
Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat |
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