The Opposition on Wednesday stepped up its attack on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with several leaders demanding his removal and a probe after a national daily report said two Election Commissioners had repeatedly raised objections to decisions concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The report said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions and orders that they said were taken without their knowledge, including four objections on a single day.
Officials said the two Election Commissioners had flagged multiple issues, including deletion of names, in various states during the voter-roll cleanup, but maintained that the poll body was unanimous in its decisions relating to the pan-India SIR.
The national rollout of the SIR has been under the supervision of all three Election Commissioners. The Indian Express report said Sandhu and Joshi had repeatedly raised questions within the three-member Election Commission over matters concerning the revision of electoral rolls.
The report triggered a strong political response from Opposition parties, with Congress leaders alleging that the developments raised questions about the functioning and credibility of the poll panel.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared a screenshot of the report on X and said party colleague Abhishek Singhvi would speak to the media about what he described as "the CEC has destroyed the credibility and integrity of the Election Commission of India".
Ramesh also referred to a notice submitted by 73 Opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha earlier this year seeking Kumar's removal.
"This was on April 24, 2026. It is still pending with the Honble Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. It has not been prorogued!" he said.
Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal said there was "no doubt" that Kumar had no right to remain in office.
"How the hell can one man, acting on His Master's orders, strike off names at whim? How can he sideline fellow Constitutional officers to only take blatantly illegal steps that put our democracy in danger?" he said.
"The right to vote is an essential Constitutional power given to every citizen, the fundamental bedrock of our democracy. If it is to be taken away, due process must be followed with utmost probity," Venugopal said.
"Today, when we are staring at crores of genuine voters being excluded and a similar number of bogus voters being added to the rolls, it is clear that Gyanesh Kumar was the Chief Architect of the nationwide 'Vote Chori' exercise, with the the Modi top brass pulling the strings," he alleged.
"We demand Gyanesh Kumar's immediate removal and a Supreme Court-monitored impartial investigation to expose the rot that has destroyed the ECI's credibility," Venugopal said.
He added that if Kumar remained in office, people would come forward to ensure that democracy was not destroyed by "a mere bureaucrat".
Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also targeted Kumar, alleging that he was "planted" and being "protected" by the BJP to weaken the Election Commission from within.
"It was already known that things were not exactly well within the ECI. But just how messy, dysfunctional and, frankly, disturbing things had become is laid bare by this brilliant expose by @IndianExpress," Khera said on X.
Khera alleged that Kumar was "the single most sold-out bureaucrat of the Modi era who has disenfranchised crores of Indians" and said he must face the law.
Congress MP Manish Tewari also reacted to the report, saying that if the facts reported were correct, they appeared to suggest that there was an "invisible hand" running the Election Commission.
"If rules were not allegedly followed and decisions were taken that were not unanimous or by majority then all the decisions of @ECISVEEP are per -se arbitrary and capricious if not completely illegal," Tewari said on X.
"This is perhaps a fit case for serious considering an impeachment proceeding but more importantly the fundamental question is as to how will the credibility of @ECISVEEP be ever resurrected," he said.
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal demanded Kumar's suspension and the filing of an FIR to investigate who was behind the alleged actions.
Former chief election commissioner O P Rawat said changes to the statutory voter registration Form 6 were "absolutely wrong and illegal", while describing the reported differences within the Election Commission as "very serious" and "unfortunate".
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said the reported differences within the Election Commission raised questions over the impartiality of the poll panel and the governments formed during the period.
"This is dangerous for our democracy. This is an attempt to weaken our democracy," Yadav said, questioning "on whose behalf" the Election Commission was functioning.
He said the poll panel was a constitutional body expected to function impartially and questioned who was "playing with" the institution to remain in government.
"What can you imagine now? Would the Election Commission have been fair? Would it have been impartial?" the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister asked.
Yadav said if decisions of the poll panel were being questioned from within the institution itself, it raised serious questions about its functioning.
"This means that the governments which have been formed during this period are unconstitutional governments," he said, alleging that democracy had been "trampled upon".
Yadav said the latest developments also had to be viewed in the context of concerns he had raised earlier about the Election Commission's functioning, alleging that they had raised doubts over whether citizens could continue to have confidence in the poll panel.
CPI(M) MP John Brittas also reacted strongly to the report, saying that the developments showed that the Election Commission was no longer functioning as a three-member body and describing it as a "one-man autocracy" under CEC Kumar.
"Two Election Commissioners have formally objected 14 times in 10 months. They branded the addition of new voters and mass deletion 'unauthorised and illegal'. They recorded objections to secret deletions, restorations, and form 6 changes that harass young first-time voters - all while being kept in the dark," he said.
Brittas alleged that this amounted to "the open subversion of the EC and our democracy too".
"Parliament must immediately start the process for the removal of the CEC. We had in fact submitted a notice for removal on 24th April, 2026 as per the constitutional stipulations - solid grounds and around 70 members signing( 50 in the stipulated number)," he said.
He said the Constitution provides the power to remove the CEC for "precisely such moments of institutional capture and subversion".
"The Supreme Court must annul the entire SIR process without delay. When two of the three Commissioners put on record that the exercise is illegal and destructive of the electoral roll's integrity, judicial silence becomes complicity," Brittas said.
"What Kumar is doing is the death knell of a democratic nation," he said.
"Remove the CEC. Strike down the SIR. Or accept that free and fair elections in India are already being buried," the CPI(M) MP said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut also cited the media report and made a strong allegation against Kumar, saying, "A-Gyanesh Kumar will go to jail! He will have to go! His masters will flee the country and run away!"
AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal demanded that the SIR exercise be cancelled and called for the immediate arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Kejriwal alleged that Kumar was running the Election Commission on his own and claimed this made the nationwide SIR process "illegal".
"For several months, meetings of the Election Commission have not been taking place, while Gyanesh Kumar has continued issuing orders on his own. Therefore, the entire SIR process, through which 13 crore names have been deleted across the country, is illegal because the Election Commission has not officially approved it," he said at a press conference.
"So today, we demand that the entire SIR process be cancelled, that all changes made under SIR be cancelled, and that the voter list from three years ago be restored," the AAP chief said.
He also demanded that Kumar be arrested and that a case of sedition be registered against him.
"Both the Election Commissioners -- Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have repeatedly submitted written complaints that orders are being issued to officers below them without the approval or authorisation of the Election Commission," Kejriwal said.
"There cannot be a bigger scam in this country than this. If the entire voter list is being prepared from the Election Commission's central office, and if the voter list is not being prepared by the ERO or by the SDM, then the voter list of the entire country has effectively become compromised," he added.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti warned that India could resemble a "banana republic" if electoral-roll changes allegedly favouring the BJP continued unchecked.
"Our country, India, which is seen as the largest democracy in the world, and which our prime minister proudly speaks of it as the 'Mother of Democracy' whenever he is abroad, (but) today, they are trying to subvert the very fundamentals of Indian democracy, which is the electoral process, by fudging the electoral rolls -- something these two Election Commissioners have pointed out," she said.
"That is what I say, if this continues, and if we do not have people like these two Election Commissioners... I will not name them right now. Who knows what trouble they might face - they might face ED raids, Income Tax raids, or worse. But if it continues like this, there will be a time when we will resemble a banana republic, and there will be no democracy left," she added.
Mehbooba also praised the two commissioners as "the only silver lining", saying they had the "courage and integrity to question those in power", and criticised Pakistan over its handling of dissent and the detention of Imran Khan's sisters.
TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee also demanded Kumar's removal and a court-monitored probe, citing the reported objections by Sandhu and Joshi.
"The CEC must be removed immediately and a court-monitored investigation ordered," Banerjee said on social media.
He alleged that "disenfranchising lakhs of voters to allegedly benefit one political party strikes at the very foundation of our democracy", and sought judicial scrutiny of concerns raised by INDIA bloc parties after the West Bengal Assembly elections.
"After the West Bengal elections, all opposition parties of the INDIA bloc wrote to the CJI and SC judges raising serious concerns," he said, alleging that the concerns "were neither examined nor given the scrutiny they deserved".
"When grave questions affecting the democratic process are repeatedly raised and yet remain unheard, it inevitably raises questions about institutional impartiality," Banerjee said.
"The Supreme Court cannot look away. The buck stops there," he added, asking, "Will the CJI-led Bench act?"
TMC Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien called for an earlier removal motion against Kumar to be brought up again.
"Five months ago, 60+ Rajya Sabha MPs (50 needed) wrote to Chairman RS moving Motion to remove CEC Gyanesh Kumar. After big news break today that two Election Commissioners objected to many of CEC's actions, it's time to bring out the RS Motion today. Impeach CEC to save democracy," O'Brien said on X.
