NEW DELHI: Backing Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s call for electoral reform, several Opposition MPs on Wednesday pushed for cleaner and more transparent systems. Their key demands included machine-readable voter lists, a reversal of the 45-day CCTV data wipe-out rule, greater access to EVMs, and an overhaul of what they described as laws that let election commissioners “act with impunity”.

On the second day of the Lok Sabha debate on “Electoral Reforms”, Congress MP K. C. Venugopal accused the government of influencing the Election Commission and said the poll body was behaving like an “election agent” of the ruling BJP, “buckling under its pressure”. Venugopal pointed to several recent Commission decisions that, according to him, showed clear partisanship. In a digital era, he asked, why were “machine-readable electoral rolls” still not being created?

He also reminded the House that a Supreme Court bench led by now-retired Justice K. M. Joseph had directed that, until Parliament passed a law on the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners, the selection panel must include the PM, the CJI, and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

But when the government finally brought a Bill, it proposed a committee in which the Prime Minister would chair, joined by a Union minister chosen by him and the Leader of the Opposition. Parliament passed that version. Venugopal questioned why the CJI was excluded and sought an explanation from the law minister.