Is the Election Commission facing a fresh credibility crisis over the voter-roll revision process? The Congress has accused the Election Commission of systematically excluding voters through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and has demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has raised questions over the role of ECINet, the deletion and flagging of voters, access to the electoral database, and the impact of the process on new and young voters.
The controversy comes amid reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections over several decisions relating to electoral rolls, Form 6 and centralised control of the voter database. The Election Commission has rejected suggestions that such differences undermine its decisions, saying differing views are part of normal institutional deliberations and that its orders have full legal sanction. So, what is actually at stake? How many eligible voters have been affected? Who controls the voter database? And did the reported objections change any final Election Commission decisions?