"Dragging A Constitutional Institution Into The Mud," Sr Adv Harish Salve Objects To Political Attacks On ECI

Former Solicitor General of India and Senior Advocate Harish Salve has strongly objected to political attacks on the Election Commission of India.

Members of the Opposition's INDIA Bloc staged a protest march from Parliament House to the Election Commission in New Delhi over the issue of alleged vote theft and their demand for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress's Abhishek Banerjee are among the key leaders who took part in the protest march.

Speaking to ANI, Salve said, "Politics is getting a little beyond what its legitimate boundaries are. I can understand criticising political parties and criticising political opponents, but constitutional institutions should not be made targets of political attacks, and that's exactly what we see happening today."

Salve further expressed that once the ECI clarified that its decision on the SIR were unanimous, the political opponents had no business to stage protests. "Because if there are three people on a panel, and if I am dissenting, if my colleague is dissenting, and the third person is saying, "No, this is a unanimous decision," I will say, "No, sorry, this is wrong. There's no decision." I won't allow this to go through...Anyway, they had a press conference, they reissued a press note, they've had a meeting on this, and they reissued a press note clarifying that all the decisions are unanimous. That should have put an end to all this..", Salve has said.

Recently, ECI had rejected a report by The India Express alleging serious differences within the poll panel, saying that internal objections, technical suggestions and checks are a normal part of deliberations in a multi-member constitutional body, and that all its decisions over the past year were taken unanimously. In its press note, the ECI said it functions under Article 324 of the Constitution, statutory rules and established institutional conventions. It said written notes, observations, technical suggestions and internal checks and balances were part of its regular functioning and were intended to ensure transparency, legal compliance and operational rigour.

Salve also referred to the CJI's recent observations made while hearing a plea concerning CEC Gyanesh Kumar, wherein the Supreme Court had refused to pass any interim orders against the ECI. "And that's what the Chief Justice said when he was asked, "Why don't you grant a stay?" He said, "No, there's no need for a stay. What will happen?" They said, "Nothing will happen. If we find anything wrong, we can undo it." That's all that he said...This is unfortunately, dragging a constitutional institution into the mud...," Salve added.

The Supreme Court had last week issued notice in a petition filed against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar alleging that he took decisions unilaterally in the name of the Election Commission of India without the approval of the other two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. A CJI Surya Kant led bench had notably refused to issue directions to the Election Commission of India on taking its decision only by majority. Before the court, objections were also raised on the Form 6 being used in the SIR process. 

Following the Supreme Court hearing, Election Commission of India clarified that the order for SIR in Bihar issued on 24 June 2025 was issued with the unanimous approval of the Commission. This ECI order was later upheld by the Supreme Court of India in its judgment dated 27 May 2026, wherein it said SIR was not in conflict with the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Rules. ECI has further cited its press note dated 26 September 2026, where in Point 1(iii), ECI has stated that, "The declaration attached to Form 6 for SIR has been upheld by the Hon'ble Supreme Court."

The Commission has issued this clarification while responding to a claim made by Indian National Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi who alleged that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar "changed Form 6 illegally and unilaterally". "This is just one more proof of him abusing his position to help the BJP. He and everyone else involved in this criminal assault on our democracy will be held accountable," Gandhi further alleged in an X post.