Saturday , November 16 2024

Election Commission violated RTI Act by not giving information, CIC issued notice

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has issued a notice to the Election Commission for not providing RTI information, and has also said that the law has been violated by refusing to provide information. Even after 30 days of RTI related to EVM and VVPAT, there was no response from the Election Commission.

Election Commission did not give any answer

Former IAS officer MG Devashayam sought answers as to what action was taken on the demands raised regarding the reliability of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and VVPAT counting process. According to the rules of the RTI Act, government departments have to respond within 30 days of receiving the application. However, even after 30 days, the Election Commission did not respond to the action. Later the petitioner appealed to the Information Commission.

Information Commission heard the appeal

The Information Commission heard the appeal and issued a notice to the Election Commission seeking its reply. The Election Commission came in response to the demand of Chief Information Commissioner Hiralal Samaria. Now a written reply has been sought from all the officers responsible for responding to this petition. Along with this, the Chief Election Commissioner also ordered the Election Commission to file the reply to RTI within 30 days.

Questions were raised on the credibility of the electoral process

Earlier, many people including the petitioner, former IAS officer, had sent a proposal to the Election Commission, in which questions were raised on the reliability of EVM-VVPAT and the election process, on which the Commission took action and called a meeting. Information like this was sought through RTI. Now this information will have to be given to the Election Commission.