"Trust Is The Currency Of Democracy": 42 Former Judges Back Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision, Call For End To Unfounded Allegations
They also urged the media not to amplify conjecture and speculation without first scrutinising and verifying the claims they report.
A group of 42 former Judges, including retired judges of the Supreme Court of India, former High Court Chief Justices, and judicial officers, issued an open letter titled "A System That Has Earned Trust", expressing grave concern over a sustained campaign to delegitimise statutory election procedures and undermine the credibility of independent constitutional authorities.
Recently, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan at NALSAR University of Law stated that disenfranchising citizens and making them “second-class citizens” is “intrinsically arbitrary” and violative of Articles 14 and 326 of the Constitution of India and that a voter’s name cannot be removed from electoral rolls without notice and hearing.
His remarks that “nobody is above the Constitution”, which did not name the pending SIR petitions, triggered a debate on the appropriateness of the judiciary, eliciting mixed reactions from retired judges and veteran lawyers.
Responding to this ongoing debate, several prominent jurists and legal figures, Justice B.R. Gavai, Justice Markandey Katju, Justice S.N. Dhingra, Justice Dr. Krishna Dixit, Former Judge, Orissa High Court/ Karnataka High Court, Justice R.S. Sodhi, Justice Lokpal Singh, Senior Advocate Harish Salve and various others have also opined on the remarks made by Justice Bhuyan.
Addressing ongoing legal and political controversies, the letter stated, "The protocols have not changed. The rules were not written in 2025. They were written in 1950. The uproar over SIR appears both sudden and remarkably convenient. Trust is the currency of democracy. Tell citizens often enough that their vote does not count, and they stop believing in the ballot. When the ballot loses meaning, the street gains it. Unrest begins with a narrative. Anarchic and fringe elements then occupy the vacuum. Some are homegrown. Some take their cues from beyond our borders."
The letter said that the process of the SIR is part of that very design.
"The purpose is simple. Remove the names of the dead, the duplicate entries of the same name, the names of those who have shifted their residence to another place and to include the names of every eligible citizen. Two decades of migration and urbanisation have left the rolls in need of correction. A clean roll protects every genuine vote", it added.
The signatories observed that previous peaceful transfers of power occurred across central and state jurisdictions under these very procedural rules.
It also urged the media not to amplify conjecture and speculation without first scrutinising and verifying the claims. Further, it asked the citizens to verify the facts before acting on it.
"The responsibility to sustain public confidence in democracy is therefore shared. Institutions earn that confidence through transparency, political parties pursue their grievances through evidence and due process, and the media help citizens distinguish verified facts from conjecture", it said.
It was also emphasized that citizens must examine claims before accepting or sharing them, and protesters must exercise their rights peacefully and within the framework of the law.
It was urged that the constitutional bodies do not belong to any government; they belong to the people of India. "An attack on their credibility is, ultimately, an attack on the institutions that safeguard the citizens' democratic rights", the letter said.
The signatories observed that previous peaceful transfers of power occurred across central and state jurisdictions under these very procedural rules.
In his column written for Verdictum, Justice Krishna Dixit explained the law on judges commenting on ongoing litigation