In a scathing letter to the Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners, close to 90 former civil servants have written an open letter, urging them to keep their word on ensuring a level-playing field during elections, which forms the basis of holding free and fair elections.

Referring to the case of the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the former civil servants, under the aegis of the Constitutional Conduct Group, have said: “A disturbing pattern of harassment and witch hunting of opposition parties and opposition politicians on the cusp of the general elections calls into question the motivation of the agencies.”

The letter refers to the timing of the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi party Convenor Arvind Kejriwal, the IT department opening up old cases related to the Congress and some other Opposition parties, searches on Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra, who is a candidate in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

“The pattern of events over the past month calls for firm action from the ECI to quell rising public suspicion that the ECI is sitting silent while a politics of vendetta is being practiced to deny opposition parties the freedom to actively participate in the election process,” says the open letter.

The letter also points out that ECI had made “no efforts to assuage doubts in the minds of the thinking public and political parties about the integrity of EVMs and the need to use VVPATs effectively to ensure accuracy in the recording of votes, a matter that is now sub judice. Nor has the ECI been particularly effective in enforcing the Model Code of Conduct to check its misuse, especially by the party in power.”

The concerned group of former civil servants urged the ECI “to live up to the shining legacy bequeathed by a line of eminent persons who have led the ECI in the past seven decades. The nation looks to you to act with firmness and determination to maintain the reputation and sanctity of the world’s largest electoral exercise.”

Click here to read the full letter sent by the former civil servants.

This article was originally published in NewsClick and can be read here.