In an unprecedented move, 23 leaders from major opposition parties, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, have jointly written a letter to Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant and other Supreme Court judges. They have raised serious concerns over alleged manipulation of the country’s electoral process and demanded the immediate suspension of the ongoing voter verification system.
The Opposition, comprising the INDIA bloc and other parties, stated in the letter to the CJI that they were compelled to take this unusual step because the core pillars of the republic are facing severe strain.
They asserted that the fundamental principle of free and fair elections is being compromised, rendering recent electoral outcomes suspect.
“We all, representing like-minded political parties, firmly opposed to the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), believe that the electoral process is being manipulated and outcomes in multiple instances do not reflect the will of the people,” the opposition leaders stated in the letter.
The main grievance of the opposition centres on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) initiated by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to clean up the voter rolls.
The Opposition has described the exercise as an “inherently exclusionary and politically motivated” drive that has resulted in the disenfranchisement of lakhs of genuine voters, particularly from among the poor, uneducated, Dalits, Adivasis, and minority communities who often lack the required complex documentation.
The letter, dated June 28, has been signed by several prominent leaders, including Trinamool Congress chief and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, DMK’s Tiruchi Siva, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav, NCP (Sharad Pawar) MP Supriya Sule, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, CPI general secretary D. Raja, and CPI(M) MP John Brittas.
The letter has also been signed by Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Sarfaraz Ahmad, CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Indian Union Muslim League leader Syed Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, MDMK chief Vaiko, VCK leader Thol. Thirumavalavan, and Revolutionary Socialist Party MP N.K. Premachandran.
Reviewing the impact of the Special Intensive Revision during the West Bengal Assembly polls, the letter noted that an unprecedented 27 lakh people were denied the right to vote due to deletions under the category of ‘logical discrepancies’.
The opposition leaders cited findings of judicial tribunals set up to examine these deletions to substantiate their allegations of administrative overreach.
“One of the 19 Tribunals hearing the appeals headed by Justice TS Sivagnanam, found that of the 1777 names deleted for which appeals were heard by him, 1717 were wrongly deleted. This means 96 per cent of the names were wrongly deleted,” the Opposition letter highlighted.
Beyond the issue of voter rolls, the united Opposition expressed deep concern over Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and called for a wider public debate on the possibility of reverting to paper ballots to fully restore public trust in the electoral system.
They also alleged that central investigative agencies, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED), and National Investigation Agency (NIA) — are being systematically used to target opposition leaders and influence election outcomes.
Describing the judiciary as the ultimate custodian of the Constitution, the leaders noted that citizens look to the courts for justice when all other administrative mechanisms fail to provide redress.
Expressing their final plea to the apex court, the leaders wrote: “When institutions themselves become instruments of oppression, carry forward the agenda of the government, then the future of our democracy is fraught with grave consequences.”
