The political dispute over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls intensified on September 23, with several opposition leaders demanding action against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and calling for the SIR exercise to be stopped.
The demands followed reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on several occasions over decisions connected with electoral roll revision and related matters.
Opposition targets CEC
- Several opposition leaders have called for the removal of Gyanesh Kumar and, in some cases, demanded criminal proceedings against him.
- Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has repeatedly alleged irregularities in the electoral roll revision process and accused the Election Commission of facilitating what he describes as “vote chori.”
- Other opposition leaders, including Kapil Sibal, Uddhav Thackeray, Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal, have also demanded action against the CEC and questioned the continuation of SIR.
- These are political allegations and have not been established by a court.
Questions over reported internal objections
- The controversy centres partly on reports that the two Election Commissioners had recorded objections during internal deliberations.
- Opposition parties have cited these reports to question the functioning of the Election Commission and the decision making process surrounding electoral roll revisions.
- The Election Commission, however, has rejected the suggestion that such differences indicate a breakdown in its functioning.
ECI says decisions were unanimous
- The Election Commission has maintained that decisions taken by the Commission, including those relating to SIR, were unanimous.
- The poll panel has indicated that differing views or observations during internal discussions are part of institutional decision making and do not necessarily mean that the Commission’s functioning has broken down.
Demands to stop SIR
- Opposition parties have also demanded that the SIR exercise be stopped or rolled back.
- Arvind Kejriwal has called for the cancellation of the exercise, while other opposition leaders have sought changes to the voter list revision process and greater scrutiny of the Election Commission’s actions.
BRS seeks judicial scrutiny
- BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao has also questioned the developments and called for judicial scrutiny of the reported differences within the Election Commission.
- The political debate is expected to continue as opposition parties press their demands and the Election Commission defends its decision-making process.
What the dispute is about
The current controversy involves three separate issues:
- Reported objections raised by two Election Commissioners.
- Opposition demands for action against CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
- The continuation of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
The Election Commission maintains that its SIR related decisions were taken unanimously, while opposition parties continue to question the process.
