00:00And joining me on the show right now is former CEO P Rawat. Mr Rawat, I appreciate your time. Of
00:05course, these protests are happening. There is an ultimatum that has been given by the Cockroach Janta Party as well.
00:11Help us understand as someone who has been at the chair, knows the functioning of the Chief of the Election
00:16Commission. Has this episode damaged the reputation and the very idea of free and fair election that Election Commission stands
00:23for?
00:26Actually, any such episode, if it is allowed to simmer and linger, then it definitely affects the reputation of Election
00:35Commission, which has been built in the last 75-76 years.
00:41Otherwise, if Election Commission, all three of them together, they come out and open and address the media and give
00:49to the public all the details and show the solidarity and unity, nothing will happen.
00:56You know, the idea is that there has been difference of opinion, that on 14 occasions, in 10 months, two
01:05election commissioners of three differed.
01:08You have said on my shows over the last few days that difference of opinion is natural.
01:13But the difference of opinion here in this case is happening at a time when the SIR exercise is underway
01:21and the SIR exercise has already been under this entire cloud of suspicion.
01:27Questions have been raised and this is also to do with voter deletion.
01:32Cases filed in the Supreme Court as well.
01:34Do you see this as a case in which sanctity of elections, which have been held under the Chief Election
01:43Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, is being questioned?
01:46Because that's what the opposition politicians are saying, that those elections are now under scrutiny.
01:54Actually, there is no provision in the law or constitution that any election which has been held and completed can
02:01be put under question, number one.
02:05Number two, there is a way of challenging an election and that is the only election petition and it has
02:12not happened.
02:13So, I don't think that any such issue is evolving.
02:18So, if you're saying that a sanctity of an election has to be questioned only through an election process, but
02:24if the vote, because vote is the right, you know, the right to vote has been denied in a number
02:29of cases and the functioning of the ECNet or the IT centralization is being questioned here.
02:34There were deletions which were happening and it was completely centralized.
02:38All these questions, which the Election Commission faces, the Chief Election Commissioner himself faces, what are the questions, according to
02:46you, which should be answered at this point?
02:50Because he has stopped, you know, because there has been only a press release which has come in so far.
02:57There has been no press conference and the list of questions are only increasing.
03:02I feel most of the issues are a little frivolous or made up and like this centralization.
03:12I think that since the Election Commission has taken a stand that deletions will not be reverted.
03:22You have to apply afresh and join as a new voter.
03:26Now, if Goa State, they put deletions in the final list and then trying to revert or roll back, they
03:34are not succeeding because that provision is not there.
03:37They should have just taken Form 6 and added all those 97 people in the voter list and the problem
03:44is solved.
03:44But even then, when they are sending email and email and email eight times, that is the duty of Election
03:51Commission also to clarify.
03:52But that also didn't happen.
03:54So, these are very, you know, small things which snowballed into something big.
04:01Why are you saying that these are small things, sir?
04:03I mean, the fact that the local officers have been sending emails and raising concerns and those concerns are not
04:09being addressed and that this entire centralized system is working out of Nirwach and Southern.
04:15Don't you think that it raises the larger question here that the problem is about one man who is running
04:21the Election Commission, which is the chief election commissioner here?
04:25No, because supervision in the Election Commission is responsibility at the deputy election commissioner level, director level, DZ level and
04:36everything like email coming and not being responded to cannot be attributed to the commission.
04:42But it is being seen, Mr. Rawat, as the symptomatic of the larger problem of centralization of power, which is
04:48Gyanesh Kumar here, and that he did not even listen to the fellow election commissioners when they were raising objections
04:53over the last one year.
04:57That is some misunderstanding because fellow commissioners, if they were in majority, they need not object.
05:04They must decide, record the decision and move ahead.
05:08Would you please elaborate on this?
05:10Because you were the CEC, you would have also had two election commissioners under you who would have raised concerns
05:16or objected to certain internal discussions.
05:19Help us understand, how does it actually work?
05:23Most of the time, I could convince them and they came around and the decisions were taken with unanimity.
05:30Once only this happened, that they did not come around and I had to tell them that if you don't
05:36decide today, I'll go public.
05:38And then they agreed and dropped their objections and things worked.
05:45Are you seeing this snowball into a massive controversy with the protests happening, opposition leaders raising concerns?
05:50Okay, tell me, what will you be telling the opposition leaders at this point?
05:54Because you have been a CEC yourself.
05:58I won't like to address any politics.
06:01All right, Mr. Rawat, I appreciate your time.
