NEW DELHI, India: India’s opposition parties have demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and called for an independent probe into the Election Commission’s functioning after an investigation found that two of its three commissioners had repeatedly objected to decisions linked to the nationwide voter-roll revision.
The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions they said had been taken without their knowledge. The objections concerned voter deletions, registration of new voters and changes to electoral procedures.
The issue centres on the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR), an exercise aimed at checking electoral rolls and removing ineligible or duplicate entries. More than 130 million names have been struck from draft rolls across 30 states and union territories during the exercise.
Opposition parties have stated that the scale and implementation of the revision could disenfranchise legitimate voters, particularly among vulnerable and minority communities. They have also questioned whether the process could affect electoral competition in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The issue has nevertheless intensified scrutiny of the poll body’s functioning. The objections included concerns over changes to Form 6, used by new voters to register, as well as the centralisation of access to electoral databases.
READ ALSO: Why is India’s Election Commission under Fire from Opposition?
Opposition parties are now demanding the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and calling for an independent investigation into the Election Commission’s functioning and the SIR exercise.
Kumar heads the three-member Election Commission of India. Congress leaders have also called for scrutiny of whether decisions challenged by the other commissioners were properly authorised.
The dispute comes at a sensitive time for India’s electoral system, with the Election Commission responsible for maintaining the rolls on which millions of citizens depend to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
The controversy now places the credibility and internal decision-making of one of India’s key constitutional institutions under unusually intense public and political scrutiny.
