ECI targeted Pawan Khera for posing questions: Congress

Questioning the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) notice to senior party leader Pawan Khera, the Congress on Wednesday (September 10, 2025) claimed that Mr. Khera has been targeted because he keeps on asking questions to the Commission.

Addressing a press conference at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters, Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi also pointed out how the EC resisted accepting Aadhaar as the proof of identity in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar despite the top court’s repeated suggestions.

Mr. Singhvi said the ECI’s approach prompted the Supreme Court to finally issue a categorical directive about it.

Also Read | ECI notice to Congress leader Pawan Khera for duplicate voter registration

“Despite repeated concerns raised by political parties, civil society, and citizens, the EC has chosen opacity over transparency, silence over accountability, and reluctance over responsibility,” he said.

The Congress leader said firstly, the ECI failed to conduct any prior consultation and, secondly, the poll panel could not provide any cogent justification to initiate such an intensive exercise in such a short span of time.

“In 2003, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh were deliberately exempted from the SIR exercise on grounds that elections were scheduled to be held in less than six months,” Mr. Singhvi said.

Also Read | Pawan Khera’s wife gets notice for duplicate voter registration

Referring to the show-cause notice issued by the District Election Office (New Delhi District) to Mr. Khera for possessing two electoral photo identity cards (EPIC), Mr. Singhvi said the September 2 notice through its official X handle placed his personal details in the public domain even before giving him an opportunity of being heard.

“The public dissemination of the show-cause notice makes it clear that the EC has already pre-adjudicated the issue against Mr. Khera. This has no sanction in the Representation of the People Act or the Rules,” Mr. Singhvi, a senior advocate in the Supreme Court, said.

Mr. Singhvi said Mr. Khera was registered in constituency number 40, New Delhi. “After relocation to Jangpura in 2017, he submitted Form 6 in compliance with Rule 13 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. In this form, he disclosed the details of his prior registration, including the constituency, address and earlier EPIC number,” he added.

In the due course of law, Mr. Khera’s name was included in the electoral roll of Jangpura constituency, and a new EPIC number was issued to him, Mr. Singhvi said.

“A copy of receipt of the Form 6 submitted by him was also provided by the EC on August 18, 2017,” he said, adding, “Why did the EC not conduct a brief enquiry into its own records before issuing the notice in the public domain?”