A purported government summons to the chief election commissioner, and a subsequent “informal” online interaction that the three election commissioners allegedly had with the PMO, have led former chief election commissioners and the Opposition to claim a breach of propriety.

Former chief election commissioners (CECs) told The Telegraph the executive couldn’t summon election commissioners — members of an autonomous constitutional body. One of them suggested that informal meetings were inappropriate too, but others said these were sometimes held depending on the tenor and the subject.

The Congress accused the Narendra Modi government of treating the Election Commission of India as a “subservient tool” in keeping with its record of “destroying every institution”.

PTI, however, quoted unnamed poll panel sources as saying no impropriety was committed and that the virtual interaction of November 16 was meant to “bridge the gaps in understanding” between the law ministry and the Election Commission over long-pending electoral reforms.

The Indian Express had on Friday reported that the law ministry had last month told CEC Sushil Chandra that the principal secretary to the Prime Minister, P.K. Mishra, “expects” him to be present at a meeting the bureaucrat was chairing. The meeting was to discuss having common electoral rolls for parliamentary, Assembly and local body polls.

The report added that Chandra “made his ‘displeasure’ felt to the law ministry and underlined that he would not attend the meeting”.

“However,” the newspaper said, “while he and the other two commissioners stayed away from the video meeting — in which their subordinates were present — as per precedent, the three did join an ‘informal interaction’ with Mishra immediately after.”

Neither the poll panel nor the PMO has confirmed or denied the report. Chandra and Mishra are yet to respond to queries emailed by this newspaper.

S.Y. Quraishi, a former CEC, told this newspaper: “Even if the principal secretary to the Prime Minister was to come to the Election Commission, we would make it a public event saying that he is coming and the agenda would be known to everybody. We cannot even meet informally.

“Can he summon the chief justice to come and discuss judicial reforms? It (purported law ministry letter to the CEC) is like asking the CJI to come with the whole bench to discuss his pending proposals for reforms.”

In the past, CECs have written to Prime Ministers with specific recommendations, for instance, for unified electoral rolls in 1999 and for the urgent release of funds for buying paper audit trail machines in 2016. But for meetings, government officials come to the poll panel and not the other way round.

Congress MP Manish Tewari moved an adjournment motion on the matter in the Lok Sabha on Friday but it was not heard because of adjournments forced by the Lakhimpur Kheri protests.

Tewari told this newspaper: “This is an extremely disturbing and portentous trend that the ECs (election commissioners) who are supposed to uphold the sanctity and inviolability of Indian democracy are summoned in this manner to the PMO and that too to a meeting with his principal secretary.

“This completely and absolutely undermines the autonomy and independence of these institutions. It lowers public confidence in the Election Commission as a fair and neutral arbiter of elections.”

Tewari said he would again move an adjournment motion on the matter on Monday.

T.S. Krishnamurthy, another former CEC, said: “I never attended a meeting convened by any official or minister. The law minister used to come to the Election Commission for discussions.… Meetings convened by officials need not be attended by Election Commission members because of their constitutional status.

“Informal discussions on the phone may depend on the tenor and subject of the discussion. For example, the Prime Minister’s secretary can ask for clarifications on a letter I (as CEC) have written to him.”

O.P. Rawat, another former CEC, said: “No structured meeting (happens with the government) with the Election Commission in attendance. However, in this case as well the CEC rejected the idea ab initio. Informal interactions for furthering the cause of reforms were at times happening (when I was CEC).”

The CPM tweeted the news report and said: “The Election Commission cannot be forced to act as a branch of the government. This is highly condemnable.”

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted: “Cat is out of the bag! What was whispered till now is a fact. PMO summoning ECI was unheard of in independent India. Treating EC as a subservient tool is yet another low in Modi government’s record of destroying every institution.”

PTI quoted poll panel sources as saying the PMO had organised the “informal interaction” with the three commissioners amid a series of communications between the government and the poll panel on electoral reforms.

They stressed that the three commissioners — Chandra, Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey — did not attend the formal meeting.

The poll panel had recommended common electoral rolls in 1999 and 2004, and the Law Commission had done so in 2005. It was also part of the BJP’s 2019 manifesto.

PTI quoted the commission sources as saying that the informal interaction with the PMO had led to the Union cabinet on Wednesday clearing various electoral reforms the Election Commission had been insisting be brought in during the ongoing winter session of Parliament.

One of the reforms is linking Aadhaar with the electoral rolls on a voluntary basis. Another will allow young people, who have just turned 18, to register as first-time voters on four dates every year instead of just one date: January 1.