New Delhi, 25 September (H.S.): Congress media department chairman Pawan Khera on Friday questioned Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over allegations that a separate arrangement was being made for “VIP” voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demanded his resignation. Khera claimed that more than 13 crore people had been deprived of voting rights through the SIR across the country and alleged that the Election Commission had made separate arrangements for ordinary voters and “VIP” voters in Delhi.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Khera said a website report had stated that officials associated with the SIR were instructed to identify “VIP” voters, while a newspaper report had disclosed the addition of a “Mark VIP” feature to the BLO App. He said the feature was added to the app on July 30, enabling Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to mark an elector as a “VIP” during the verification process. The entry is subsequently reviewed at the levels of the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO), Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) and the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi.

Khera said the Election Commission’s March 2023 Manual on Electoral Rolls provides for certain electors to be identified as “marked electors”. The category includes MPs, MLAs, holders of certain declared offices and certain individuals associated with the fields of arts, culture, journalism, sports, the judiciary and public services.

Khera alleged that Gyanesh Kumar had disregarded the objections raised by the other two Election Commissioners and was running the Election Commission single-handedly. Questioning the functioning of the poll panel, he said the Chief Election Commissioner should now step aside from his responsibilities.

Notably, an English-language newspaper reported on September 25 that a new “Mark VIP” feature had been added to the BLO App used by Booth Level Officers. Officials at the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s office reportedly said the feature was added to the app on July 30. According to the report, the facility allows certain electors to be identified as “VIP” during the SIR verification process.

Earlier, another English-language newspaper reported on September 23 that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded at least 14 written objections over decisions and orders of the Election Commission during the preceding 10 months. The report referred to objections concerning the registration of new electors, deletion of names from electoral rolls, centralisation of voter data and other issues related to the SIR.

Following the report, political parties raised questions about the functioning of the Election Commission. The Election Commission, however, has stated that all its decisions, including those concerning the SIR, were taken with the approval of all three Election Commissioners.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar