Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the recent amendments to the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, by the NDA government that allegedly seek to curb transparency.

The impugned amendments to Rule 93 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, are aimed at restricting public access to certain electronic documents such as CCTV camera footage and video recordings of candidates during elections.

The Congress has accused the NDA government of unilaterally amending a “vital” rule in a “brazen manner” and undermining the healthy democratic tradition of consultation with the Opposition parties.

The unamended rule 93(2) of the 1961 Conduct of Election Rules stated that “all other papers relating to election shall be open to public inspection”.

The newly amended provision seeks to exclude electronic records from the purview of disclosure. A gazette notification issued to this effect on December 20 reads: “In the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, in rule 93, in sub-rule (2) in clause (a), after the word, ‘papers’, the words ‘as specified in these rules’ shall be inserted.”

RTI activists led by Anjali Bharadwaj have also criticised the move, saying the amendments were carried out at a time when several applications submitted before the Election Commission under the RTI Act were still pending.

The critics pointed out that the amendments had come against the backdrop of a recent directive by Punjab and Haryana High Court to the poll panel to produce electronic records, including CCTV camera footage, from inside polling booths in some constituencies during the recently concluded Assembly elections in Haryana.

“The integrity of the electoral process is fast eroding. Hopefully the Supreme Court will help restore it,” Ramesh posted on X on Tuesday. “A writ has just been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the recent amendments to the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961,” he added.

Ramesh said the Election Commission, a constitutional body tasked with conducting free and fair elections, “cannot be allowed to unilaterally, and without public consultation, amend such a vital law in such a brazen manner. This is especially true when that amendment does away with public access to essential information that makes the electoral process more transparent and accountable”.