(MENAFN- Live Mint) As many as 272 eminent citizens, including several retired judges, bureaucrats, and armed forces officers, wrote an open letter on Tuesday, condemning Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, over his alleged attempts to tarnish constitutional bodies like the Election Commission of India.

Sixteen former judges, 123 retired bureaucrats and 133 retired armed forces officers called out Rahul Gandhi over his "scathing accusations" of "vote theft" against the Election Commission and also slammed the Opposition's "blistering rhetoric against SIR [Special Intensive Revision]."

"Provocative but unsubstantiated accusation"

In a letter titled 'Assault on National Constitutional Authorities', the former government officials expressed grave concern that "India's democracy is under assault, not by force, but by a rising tide of venomous rhetoric directed toward its foundational institutions."

The letter highlighted how some political leaders, "instead of offering genuine policy alternatives, resort to provocative but unsubstantiated accusations in their theatrical political strategy."

They also accused these leaders of attempting to tarnish the Indian Armed Forces "by questioning their valour and accomplishments, and the Judiciary by questioning its fairness, Parliament, and its constitutional functionaries."

"It is [now] the turn of the Election Commission of India to face systematic and conspiratorial attacks on its integrity and reputation," the letter read.

Rahul Gandhi's 'unbelievably uncouth rhetoric'

The letter from 272 signatories stated that Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha,“has repeatedly attacked the Election Commission, declaring that he has open and shut proof that the Election Commission is involved in vote theft and claimed that he has 100 per cent proof."

“Using unbelievably uncouth rhetoric that what he has found is an atom bomb and when it explodes, the EC would have no place to hide,” the letter read.

The letter noted that Gandhi“has also issued threats that whoever in the Elections Commission is involved in this exercise, right from top to bottom, he will not spare them.”

“According to him [Gandhi], ECI is indulging in treason. He has gone on record to threaten that if CEC/ECs are retired, he will hound them,” the signatories wrote.

They further mentioned that despite“such scathing accusations”, Gandhi has not filed any formal complaint, along with the prescribed sworn affidavit,“to escape his accountability for levelling unsubstantiated allegations and threatening public servants in performance of their duty.”

Former judges, officials slam Oppn over SIR: 'Emotionally powerful but...'

The letter condemned several political leaders for declaring that the Election Commission "has descended into complete shamelessness by acting like the 'B-team of the BJP'."

It claimed that several senior figures of Congress and other political parties, "leftist NGOs, ideologically opinionated scholars, and a few attention seekers" have joined in with similarly blistering rhetoric against SIR.

The signatories said that such "fiery rhetoric may be emotionally powerful - but it collapses under scrutiny, because the ECI has publicly shared its SIR methodology, overseen verification by court-sanctioned means, removed ineligible names in a compliant manner, and added new eligible voters."

'Impotent rage'

The former judges, armed forces officers and bureaucrats slammed the Opposition's“impotent rage”, which, they said, suggests "deep anger born of repeated electoral failure and frustration, without a concrete plan to reconnect with the people."

They were referring to the Opposition's defeat in the recently concluded Bihar Assembly Elections and their poll debacle in Haryana and Maharashtra previously.

They slammed the Opposition's“selective outrage” and said,“The irony is stark: when electoral outcomes are favourable in certain States where opposition -driven political parties form governments, criticism of the Election Commission disappears. When they are unfavourable in certain States, the Commission becomes the villain in every narrative.”

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