New Delhi: The Constitutional Conduct Group, comprising former All-India and Central Services civil servants, has called for the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.In their latest statement, the group has stressed that the controversial exercise has caused widespread voter disenfranchisement through bulk deletions, arbitrary additions, inadequate documentation, partisan instructions and unreasonable demands on citizens.Placing the burden of proving citizenship on voters exceeds the Election Commission’s constitutional mandate, say the former civil servants, who add that this lacks constitutional justification.The exercise, they say, will weaken India’s plural democratic fabric.This open letter comes a day after police in various parts of India, especially New Delhi, brutally manhandled and detained protesters asking for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.The full text of the letter is as follows.The signatories to this letter comprise members of the Constitutional Conduct Group, a collective of former civil servants belonging to the All-India Services and the Central Services, who share an abiding commitment to the promotion of the foundational values of our Republic and the observance of norms of constitutional conduct and constitutional morality.We have closely followed the media reports on the havoc wrought by the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and have interacted with disenfranchised individuals as well as seasoned civil servants with experience of working in the Election Commission of India (ECI) and handling the election process at different levels. After a great deal of deliberation, we have come to the inescapable conclusion that the SIR exercise needs to be scrapped lest it undermine our commitment to universal adult suffrage, seriously damage the reputation of the ECI, and make a mockery of our democracy. Numerous instances of bulk deletions, absurd additions, sloppy documentation, partisan instructions and unreasonable harassment to citizens have come to light, both episodically as well as through well-researched examinations of the process. The constitutional responsibility of the ECI extends to timely conduct of free and fair elections. The SIR, which has placed the burden of proof of citizenship on the voters, is transgressive and without any constitutional justification. The ECI has yet to inform the public whether the decision to undertake the SIR was taken by it on its own, or at the behest of the government. We are sure that the ECI has kept track of the burgeoning media reports and social media conversations highlighting the absurdity of the SIR and its long-term implications for our democratic polity, and more specifically, its chilling impact on India’s multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual social fabric. We strongly feel that in order to discharge its constitutional mandate and protect its historic dignity and reputation for impartiality, the ECI should, in the first instance, scrap the SIR altogether and revert to the long-established procedures for registration of electors provided by the rules.SATYAMEVA JAYATEConstitutional Conduct GroupThe full list of 100 signatories is below. Anand ArniRAS (Retd.)Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoIAruna BagcheeIAS (Retd.)Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, GoISandeep BagcheeIAS (Retd.)Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of MaharashtraJ.L. BajajIAS (Retd.)Former Chairman, Administrative Reforms and Decentralisation Commission, Govt. of Uttar PradeshG. BalachandhranIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West BengalVappala Balachandran IPS (Retd.)Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoIGopalan Balagopal IAS (Retd.)Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West BengalChandrashekar Balakrishnan IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Coal, GoISharad BeharIAS (Retd.)Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya PradeshAurobindo BeheraIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of OdishaMadhu BhaduriIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to PortugalK.V. BhagirathIFS (Retd.)Former Secretary General, Indian Ocean Rim Association, MauritiusRavi BudhirajaIAS (Retd.)Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoIManeshwar Singh ChahalIAS (Retd.)Former Principal Secretary, Home, Govt. of PunjabR. ChandramohanIAS (Retd.)Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of DelhiRachel ChatterjeeIAS (Retd.)Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra PradeshGurjit Singh CheemaIAS (Retd.)Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of PunjabF.T.R. ColasoIPS (Retd.)Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & KashmirAnna Dani IAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of MaharashtraVibha Puri Das IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoIPradeep K. DebIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoINitin Desai Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoIM.G. DevasahayamIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Govt. of HaryanaRenu Sahni DharIAS (Retd.)Former Principal Adviser to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal PradeshK.P. Fabian IFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to ItalyPrabhu GhateIAS (Retd.)Former Addl. Director General, Department of Tourism, GoISuresh K. GoelIFS (Retd.)Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoIS.K. GuhaIAS (Retd.)Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoIH.S. GujralIFoS (Retd.)Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of PunjabMeena GuptaIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoIRavi Vira Gupta IAS (Retd.)Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of IndiaWajahat Habibullah IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, GoI and former Chief Information CommissionerDeepa Hari IRS (Resigned)Sajjad Hassan IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Govt. of ManipurSyed Masood HusainIES (Retd.)Former Chairman, Central Water Commission & ex officio Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, GoISiraj HussainIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoIKamal Jaswal IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoINaini Jeyaseelan IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoINajeeb JungIAS (Retd.)Former Lieutenant Governor, DelhiGita KripalaniIRS (Retd.)Former Member, Settlement Commission, GoISudhir KumarIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Central Administrative TribunalSubodh LalIPoS (Resigned)Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoIHarsh Mander IAS (Retd.)Govt. of Madhya PradeshC.K. MathewIAS (Retd.)Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of RajasthanAmitabh MathurIPS (Retd.)Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoIAditi MehtaIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of RajasthanMalay MishraIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to HungaryAvinash MohananeyIPS (Retd.)Former Director General of Police, Govt. of SikkimSudhansu MohantyIDAS (Retd.)Former Financial Adviser (Defence Services), Ministry of Defence, GoIJugal MohapatraIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Department of Rural Development, GoIRuchira MukerjeeIP&TAFS (Retd.)Former Advisor (Finance), Telecom Commission, GoIAnup MukerjiIAS (Retd.)Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of BiharDeb Mukharji IFS (Retd.)Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to NepalShiv Shankar MukherjeeIFS (Retd.)Former High Commissioner to the United KingdomGautam MukhopadhayaIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to MyanmarNagalsamy IA&AS (Retd.)Former Principal Accountant General, Tamil Nadu & KeralaT.K.A. NairIAS (Retd.)Former Adviser to Prime Minister of IndiaSurendra NathIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya PradeshP. Joy OommenIAS (Retd.)Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of ChhattisgarhR.K. PaliwalIRS (Retd.)Former Principal Chief Commissioner Income Tax, MP & ChhattisgarhAmitabha Pande IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoIMira Pande IAS (Retd.)Former State Election Commissioner, West BengalAlok Perti IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoIG.K. PillaiIAS (Retd.)Former Home Secretary, GoIRajesh PrasadIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to the NetherlandsSmita PurushottamIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to SwitzerlandK. RaghunathIFS (Retd.)Former Foreign Secretary, GoIV.P. RajaIAS (Retd.)Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory CommissionV. RamaniIAS (Retd.)Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of MaharashtraM. RameshkumarIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Maharashtra Administrative TribunalArchana RanjanIRS (Retd.)Former Director General, Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, GoIK. Sujatha RaoIAS (Retd.)Former Health Secretary, GoIM.Y. Rao IAS (Retd.)Madhukumar Reddy A.IRTS (Retd.)Former Principal Executive Director, Railway Board, GoISatwant Reddy IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoIJulio Ribeiro IPS (Retd.)Former Director General of Police, Govt. of PunjabA.K. SamantaIPS (Retd.)Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West BengalDeepak SananIAS (Retd.)Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal PradeshG.V. Venugopala SarmaIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha Biswaranjan SasmalIRS (Retd.)Former Additional Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoIS. SatyabhamaIAS (Retd.)Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoIN.C. Saxena IAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoIA. Selvaraj IRS (Retd.)Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai, GoIArdhendu Sen IAS (Retd.)Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West BengalAftab Seth IFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to JapanAshok Kumar SharmaIFoS (Retd.)Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of GujaratAshok Kumar SharmaIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to Finland and EstoniaNavrekha Sharma IFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to IndonesiaRaju Sharma IAS (Retd.)Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar PradeshShivenduIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Health & Member (Finance), Jharkhand State Electricity Board, Govt. of JharkhandAvay ShuklaIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary (Forests & Technical Education), Govt. of Himachal PradeshSujatha SinghIFS (Retd.)Former Foreign Secretary, GoISwaraj Bir SinghIPS (Retd.)Former Director General of Police, Govt. of MeghalayaTara Ajai SinghIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of KarnatakaMridula SinhaIAS (Retd.)Former Director General, Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of JharkhandA.K. SrivastavaIAS (Retd.)Former Administrative Member, Madhya Pradesh Administrative TribunalPrakriti SrivastavaIFoS (Retd.)Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Special Officer, Rebuild Kerala Development Programme, Govt. of Kerala Anup ThakurIAS (Retd.)Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal CommissionGeetha ThoopalIRAS (Retd.)Former General Manager, Metro Railway, KolkataAshok VajpeyiIAS (Retd.)Former Chairman, Lalit Kala AkademiFor our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.