124 former civil servants defend EC, SIR against vote fraud claims

They argue that electoral malpractice allegations must be backed by credible evidence, contrasting the present system with the bygone era of booth capturing. 

A group of 124 former civil servants from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and allied services came together to issue an open letter to the citizens of India, defending the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, questioning allegations of vote rigging that they said were being made without credible evidence.

In the letter dated October 10, the signatories said repeated use of the word “rigged” to describe elections without evidence risked undermining public confidence in democratic institutions.

The bureaucrats drew on their experience of conducting elections, preparing electoral rolls and supervising polling functions and argued that India’s electoral system had developed multiple safeguards against malpractice.

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The former public servants contrasted the present system with an earlier period marked by booth capturing, ballot-box theft, electoral violence and voters being prevented from casting their ballots. They cited the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, which they said were held without a single re-poll for the first time in the state’s history and recorded the highest voter turnout since 1951.