NEW DELHI: The Election Commission (EC) of India has made an alleged exception of its own policy and practice by sharing electoral database of northeast Delhi voters with the police for identifying the accused of the February 2020 communal violence in the city.
The allegation was levelled by a Right to Information Act (RTI) activist, Saket Gokhale, on the basis of a response he received.
Sharing on Twitter a letter from the EC, Gokhale alleged the entire voter list along with photos was handed over illegally to the Delhi Police to enable identification of the accused in violation of norms.
Responding to the allegation, the poll panel asserted in a statement that it had not violated any rule.
In the letter dated March 6, the poll panel directed the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi to “share the electoral roll along with images of electors of North-East parliamentary constituency” with the police.
The response came after the CEO flagged to the EC that the “electoral database of entire Assembly constituency or district should not be shared with the police as it violated the commission’s policy and practice”.
The EC, however, insisted in the letter that as the police wanted to match the photos with CCTV visuals of the violence, these be shared with the investigating officer.
Gokhale said: “The EC violated rules by making available to the police the entire voter list with photos after the Delhi violence. This is an easy way to identify the minorities living in any area.”
Responding to the charge, the poll panel said, “The anecdotal reports are not based on facts… the commission has not deviated in any manner from the original guidelines of 2008 and clarificatory orders of 2020.”
The commission noted that as far as criminal investigations by regulatory or enforcement agencies were concerned, “it was under their own extant Acts, rules and guidelines, which in any case could be challenged in court”.