Election Commission sources reject report of internal disquiet: ‘SIR, all other decisions unanimous’

A report claimed that Election Commissioners recorded at least 14 objections over 10 months to decisions they said were issued without their approval.

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All decisions taken by the Election Commission (EC), including the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, had the approval of all three election commissioners, EC sources told HT on Wednesday.

The clarification followed an Indian Express report that said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections to decisions taken in the commission’s name at least 14 times over 10 months. Four such objections were made on the same day, the report said.

The reported disagreements involved changes to Form 6, the centralisation of ERONet controls in Delhi, voter deletion appeals in West Bengal and the failure to add some eligible voters to the electoral rolls in Goa.

The ECI said the decisions were unanimous and had the approval of both Election Commissioners and the chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

“All decisions of the Election Commission of India, including SIR, have been unanimous and with the approval of both the Election Commissioners and the Chief Election Commissioner,” the statement to HT read.

Among the specific instances cited, Joshi warned that Form 6 for new voters could not be changed in the proposed manner without amending the rules, but the change was carried out regardless, following which Sandhu called it “unauthorised and illegal.”

Joshi also reportedly flagged the "gradual centralisation" of the electoral-roll database and proposed an audit to ensure that only statutory authorities could alter voter records.

The report triggered a sharp political reaction. Opposition leaders, including DMK's TKS Elangovan, AAP's Saurabh Bharadwaj, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Sanjay Raut and CPI(M)'s John Brittas, criticised the CEC over the alleged dissent.

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