Faye D'Souza
Two Election Commissioners objected 14 times: what happened inside the EC?
Faye walks through an Indian Express exclusive by Ritika Chopra. Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi put formal objections on record at least 14 times over 10 months, saying decisions on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls were taken without their knowledge or over their objections. The law expects the three-member commission, led by CEC Gyanesh Kumar, to decide unanimously where possible, otherwise by majority, so two dissenters is a majority. Examples: a new mandatory question on Form 6 (whether you, a parent or grandparent was on the roll in the last SIR), which Joshi said needed a rules amendment and Sandhu later called 'unauthorized and illegal'; a proposed audit of who holds credentials to edit voter records, which never happened; 97 people in Goa whom local registration officers ruled eligible but could not add back because the software gave them no option, so the final roll went out without them; and in West Bengal, 16 lakh appeals to remove included voters (alongside 22 lakh to restore deleted ones) that the EC cited in the Supreme Court without saying who filed them. The EC says recording objections is normal procedure; BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra called differing views 'pure democracy'; the opposition wants action against Kumar. Faye's read: this does not automatically void SIR, which has removed about 13 crore names nationwide, but it strengthens the court challenges already pending and hurts the EC's credibility. She notes all three commissioners were picked by panels led by PM Modi, with opposition members dissenting each time.
Why it mattersIf the challenges succeed, the voter lists from SIR could face legal doubt, and that affects future elections.
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