The Election Commission of India on Saturday convened its first meeting since a controversy erupted over a media report that claimed two election commissioners had objected on record more than a dozen times over the past 10 months to orders they said were issue without their knowledge or recommendation.
The meeting at Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi was attended by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
The ECI said the SIR order and schedules were approved unanimously by all three members of the panel. It also pointed out that the declaration attached to Form 6 for the SIR period was upheld by the Supreme Court. The forms prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, will be used for periods when SIR is not underway.
A press note released by the ECI clarified that the letter sent by the two ECs to Cabinet Secretary was not related to any policy matter of the Commission or IT division, but related to the working of an officer on deputation to ECI.
Amid the row, the ECI said that for all future meetings of the poll panel, agenda will be circulated in advance and minutes will be issued. It added that all directions issued by Election Commissioners to poll body officers will be meticulously complied with.
The poll panel also extended the deadline for the ongoing SIR in Delhi and Maharashtra. The deadline for filing claims and objections in Delhi was extended to October 30 while the deadline for disposal of claims and objections was pushed to November 30. The filing deadline in Maharashtra was moved to October 12 and the disposal deadline was rescheduled to November 10.
The ECI also said voters issued notices in SIR need not go for personal hearing except in exceptional cases.
