Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on September 24 demanded the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls amounts to “vote chori” and an attack on voters’ rights.
Gandhi also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were involved in what he described as a conspiracy and said they would face investigation.
His remarks followed a September 23 Indian Express investigation reporting that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months concerning decisions linked to voter registration, deletions, electoral databases and SIR-related procedures.
The ECI has rejected suggestions of an institutional breakdown, saying internal notes and differences are part of its deliberative process and that final decisions were taken unanimously.
The controversy intensified on September 25, when Congress held protests across several cities demanding Kumar’s resignation, with police using water cannons in some locations and detaining some party leaders.
14 Objections Within ECI
The immediate trigger for Gandhi’s latest attack was the Indian Express investigation, which reported that Sandhu and Joshi had recorded at least 14 formal objections over a 10-month period.
According to the report, their concerns covered decisions relating to the addition, deletion and restoration of voter names, access to electoral databases and changes to the technological systems used to manage electoral rolls.
In one significant instance, the Commissioners questioned changes to Form 6, the application used by citizens seeking inclusion in electoral rolls. The report said a new question was added asking applicants whether they or their parents or grandparents appeared in the electoral roll from the previous SIR.
Joshi had reportedly raised concerns about the legal basis for changing the form, while Sandhu later described the change as “unauthorised and illegal” and called for its removal.
The investigation also reported concerns over what the two Commissioners viewed as increasing centralisation of electoral-roll databases and possible restrictions on access for statutory Electoral Registration Officers.
It said Sandhu and Joshi had, in a separate instance, raised concerns about changes to the allocation of work related to the IT infrastructure supporting electoral rolls and had written to the Cabinet Secretary.
The report said their objections were copied to CEC Gyanesh Kumar. Under the 2023 law governing the Election Commission, the three members are equal in rank, with the CEC described as “first among equals”; where members differ, decisions are made according to the majority view.
Why SIR Is Controversial
The Special Intensive Revision is an exercise to verify and update electoral rolls, with the ECI maintaining that its objective is to ensure that eligible citizens remain on the rolls while ineligible entries are removed. However, the scale of the current exercise has made it a major political issue.
The Indian Express reported that more than 13 crore names had been left out of draft rolls across 30 states and Union Territories. These are draft-stage figures and do not automatically represent permanent deletion of voting rights, as the process includes claims, objections and verification before final rolls are published.
The ECI has defended the process and disputed the interpretation of the reported internal disagreements. It said written notes, technical observations and scrutiny between Commissioners are part of the normal functioning of a multi-member constitutional body.
The Commission maintained that its final decisions, including those concerning SIR, were taken unanimously and had legal backing. The Supreme Court has separately scrutinised aspects of SIR, adding a judicial dimension to the debate over electoral-roll verification and safeguards for voters.
Gandhi, however, has linked the reported objections to his broader allegations of electoral manipulation. At his September 24 press conference, he accused the CEC of failing to protect voters’ rights and urged Kumar to “turn approver”. He also alleged that Modi and Shah were “on top” of the alleged conspiracy and would eventually face investigation.
These remain political allegations and have not been established as findings against the CEC, Prime Minister or Home Minister. The BJP has rejected Gandhi’s accusations, while the ECI has maintained that its processes remain within the law.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
The dispute over electoral rolls goes beyond competing political statements because voter registration directly affects citizens’ ability to participate in elections. At the same time, allegations of electoral wrongdoing need to be distinguished from independently established findings.
The reported objections by two Election Commissioners, the ECI’s explanation that such differences are part of internal deliberations, judicial scrutiny of aspects of SIR, and the competing claims by political parties all warrant careful public examination.
The latest protests, including demonstrations across several states on September 25 and the detention of some Congress leaders, show how quickly the dispute has moved from institutional disagreement to street-level political confrontation.
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