New Delhi, Oct 8 Former Supreme Court judge V Gopala Gowda on Thursday said the top court's judgement upholding the constitutional validity of the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) must be recalled as it is "illegal, unconstitutional and undemocratic".
He also said that the apex court should ask for all records from the EC to ascertain if the SIR decision was taken by the Full Commission with the concurrence and approval of majority of Election Commissioners.
His comments came on a day a group of 42 retired judges defended the SIR as a "lawful exercise".
In an open letter to the "people of India", the former judges claimed they felt compelled to speak as "silence is no longer a neutral choice" and the opposition attack on the EC is a "campaign without evidence".
Speaking at Cockroach Janata Party's protest in Bengaluru for a "People's Tribunal" and chappal protest against voter deletions during the electoral roll revision, Justice Gowda said the "May 27 judgement of the Supreme Court upholding the constitutional validity of SIR is illegal, unconstitutional and undemocratic and must be recalled".
"My friends, 78 years of independent India the democracy is butchered and murdered at the hands of the CEC with the support of the people who are at the helm of affairs of government of India. I don't want to disclose their names but people will teach them a lesson. The intellectuals, laureates, the youth, the students all are supporting the mainstream struggle which is being carried out by you (CJP) in the entire nation," the former judge said.
Defending Supreme Court judge Ujjal Bhuyan's recent comment, he said there was no judicial impropriety committed by him by commenting against mass disenfranchisement of voters as a sitting apex court judge.
Justice Gowda says Justice Bhuyan, as a judge, was entitled to speak on a constitutional issue.
Justice Bhuyan on Sunday said any process which disenfranchises millions of Indian citizens was intrinsically arbitrary and a negation of the constitutional order, and that no amount of "whataboutery" can justify it.
Delivering a major victory for the EC, the Supreme Court on May 27 upheld its power to conduct SIR of voter rolls and said the exercise "breathes life" into the constitutional mandate for fair elections.
