124 Former Civil Servants Defend Election Commission and SIR

An open letter signed by 124 former civil servants defended the Election Commission of India and its Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, arguing that claims of election fraud require credible evidence. The signatories said electoral systems should not be considered honest only when a preferred candidate wins and rigged when that candidate loses. The letter, addressed to citizens, was issued amid challenges to the credibility of the commission and the voter-roll revision. Its signatories include former officers from the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service and allied services. They said institutions should not be judged according to political affiliation and pointed to elections in which the party leading the national government lost state contests, as well as its failure to win an outright majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. In defending the revision in Bihar, the former officials said it identified about 2.2 million deceased voters and 700,000 duplicate entries, while adding approximately 2.15 million new voters.