124 ex IAS, IFS Officers write Open Letter To Citizens, Defend Election Commission, SIR ::: Shows mirror to Congress and foreign sponsored ecosystem :::: "A system cannot be honest when you win and rigged when you lose"

A group of 124 former civil servants (including retired IAS and IFS officers) issued an open letter defending the Election Commission of India (ECI) and its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, dismissing vote-rigging allegations as baseless.

The signatories—including former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal and others—highlighted robust security protocols like EVMs and VVPATs, arguing that a democratic system cannot be valid only when results are favorable, noting the BJP's own past losses under the same framework. 

The group cited the 2025 Bihar Assembly election as evidence of improvements in electoral administration, saying the state recorded no re-polling for the first time in its history and achieved its highest voter turnout since 1951, with women also participating in record numbers.

Highlighting India's transformation from an era of booth capturing, ballot-box stuffing and poll violence, the officers said today's electoral system has multiple layers of checks and safeguards, including polling agents, EVM sealing, strong-room security and VVPAT verification. 

They cited last year's Bihar Assembly polls, which recorded no re-polling and the highest voter turnout since 1951.

"A system cannot be honest when you win and rigged when you lose," the letter said, pointing out that under the same EC, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre lost several state polls as well as its parliamentary majority in 2024.

The signatories to the letter include former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal and former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers R D Kapur, Samirendra Chatterjee, Gopal Krishna, Vivek Bhardwaj and Navneet Sehgal.  

The former civil servants said they had spent their careers conducting and studying elections, including preparing electoral rolls and securing strong rooms where electronic voting machines (EVMs) are stored.

"We belong to no party. We write because one word, 'rigged', is now thrown at our elections without evidence, and every repetition wounds democratic trust that belongs to all of us," the letter read.

"We know what a rigged election looks like. We served in those days you know only from films: the katta at the booth, the bahubali's men, ballot boxes stuffed or stolen, voters turned away. 

Booth capturing was so common that Parliament made it a crime in 1989. When violence speaks, democracy falls silent," it continued. 

Earlier two days back, as mans 42 former judges and retired constitutional office holders issued an open letter defending the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The signatories criticized what they termed a calculated campaign and sustained attacks to undermine the ECI, the judiciary, and constitutional institutions.

They backed the ECI's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, affirming that it is legally grounded under Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and has a long precedent dating back to 1950.

The former judges questioned the lack of sworn affidavits or formal evidence behind public allegations of "vote theft" or compromised EVMs, noting that victories won on the same machines go unquestioned.

They urged political parties to present grievances with proper evidence before courts rather than delegitimizing statutory bodies or moving conflicts to the streets.

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