NEW DELHI, Sept 23: Opposition parties on Wednesday stepped up their criticism of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar after a report said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections to decisions taken by the Election Commission on at least 14 occasions over the past 10 months.
The reported objections relate to several aspects of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, including voter registration, deletion and restoration of names, changes to Form 6 and access to the electoral-roll database. According to The Indian Express, the two commissioners said some decisions and orders were issued without their knowledge.
The report triggered a political response, with several opposition leaders demanding greater transparency from the poll panel and calling for action against Kumar.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared the report on social media and said Congress MP Abhishek Singhvi would address the media on what he described as serious revelations concerning the functioning of the Election Commission.
Congress MP Manish Tewari said that if the reported facts were correct, they raised questions about how decisions were being taken within the poll panel. He also questioned whether decisions taken without the required procedure could withstand legal scrutiny.
Congress MP Mohamed Javed demanded that the Chief Election Commissioner disclose details of disputed decisions and clarify who authorised them. He said the functioning of electoral institutions required transparency and accountability.
CPI(M) MP John Brittas went further, accusing the CEC of concentrating authority within the poll panel and calling for parliamentary action over Kumar’s removal. His comments followed the report that the two other commissioners had recorded objections on issues connected with voter additions, deletions and electoral-roll management.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut also criticised Kumar, while TMC Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien referred to an earlier motion seeking the CEC’s removal and called for it to be brought before the Rajya Sabha again.
The reported disagreements have emerged amid the nationwide implementation of the SIR exercise. The Indian Express investigation said the objections from Sandhu and Joshi included concerns over changes to Form 6, which is used for new voter registration, and the management and accessibility of the electoral-roll database.
The two commissioners also raised concerns about the centralisation of access to voter databases. According to the report, they questioned whether statutory election officials at the state and constituency levels retained adequate access to the systems used to maintain electoral rolls.
The internal disagreements are significant because the Election Commission is a three-member constitutional body. Under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, its business is to be conducted as far as possible unanimously, while differences are settled according to the majority view.
The Election Commission, however, has rejected the suggestion of a decision-making breakdown. Reports citing sources within the poll panel said that all decisions, including those concerning the SIR, had been taken unanimously.
The controversy therefore centres on the contrast between the reported written objections by two Election Commissioners and the Election Commission’s position that its decisions have been unanimous.
The developments come as the SIR process continues to attract scrutiny over the preparation and revision of electoral rolls. The latest dispute has added an internal dimension to the wider debate over the poll panel’s procedures, oversight mechanisms and management of voter data.