The political battle over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, is escalating. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has cited former Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat’s comments on the SIR exercise, alleging that the process has raised serious questions over voter disenfranchisement and the credibility of the Election Commission. At the heart of the controversy is a report by The Indian Express that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months on decisions concerning electoral rolls, Form 6, voter additions and deletions, and access to voter databases.
The Election Commission, however, has rejected suggestions of a formal internal rift and maintained that decisions concerning SIR were taken unanimously. The Congress has also questioned changes to Form 6, while the INDIA bloc has announced “Save Democracy” marches from October 2 to 8, including a proposed march to the Election Commission on October 6. So what exactly happened inside the Election Commission? How many voters have actually been affected by SIR? And what do the reported objections by two Election Commissioners mean for the poll panel’s decision-making process?