124 former bureaucrats call for trust in electoral process:Recall past rigging when strongmen used country-made pistols to capture polling booths

Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal and 124 former bureaucrats have written a letter to the people of the country in support of India’s electoral process. Former ambassadors and retired IAS officers wrote, “We are writing this letter because the word ‘rigging’ is being used these days for our elections without any evidence. Repeatedly using this word weakens people’s faith in democracy.” One section of the letter reads: “We know what rigging looks like in elections. We have seen the era that you now see only in films-bringing country-made pistols to polling booths, the men of strongmen, stuffing ballot boxes with fake votes, stealing ballot boxes and preventing people from voting. Booth capturing was so common that Parliament made it an offence in 1989.” The news is being continuously updated…