New Delhi: In a meeting of all three Commissioners, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has taken several important decisions, including the review of the ECINet platform, and use of forms, including Form 6, as per the Registration of Electors Rules 1960, for the non-SIR period.
The meeting follows an investigative report by The Indian Express alleging that the two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had objected on record at least 14 times in 10 months to decisions being taken without keeping them in loop. It raised several concerns over changes made in Form 6, which new voters have to fill, without adequate authority and revealed chinks in the ECINet platform. The report had further claimed that on concerns over integrity of voter software, the ECs had even knocked on the Cabinet Secretary’s door.
The report has resulted in calls by the Opposition for removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The changes in Form 6 required applicants to choose one of three statements: whether their name appeared in the electoral roll during the last SIR in the early 2000s, whether the name of a parent or grandparent appeared in that roll, or whether neither their name nor that of their parents appeared in it.
“The declaration attached to Form 6 for SIR has been upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. For the non-SIR period, the Forms applicable as per Rules (the Registration of Electors Rules 1960) will be used,” reads the Commission’s press note following the meeting now.
The press note further asserted that field officers have a “role-based access” to the ECINet system. However, a Committee headed by Senior Deputy Election Commissioner (DEC) and including an independent expert from IIT/IIIT will review the system to double-check that it complies with the provisions of the Acts and Rules, and submit a report to the Commission.
“Henceforth, all the new initiatives about IT modules and portals will be discussed in the Committee of Officers (COO) before approval by the Commission,” it added.
The Indian Express investigation also claimed that “most recently, in a radical departure from the norm, Joshi and Sandhu wrote separately to the Cabinet Secretary complaining about changes in work allocation that, in effect, removed a layer of oversight of the IT backbone for the electoral rolls”. “They made it clear: these changes had been done without their knowledge and they struck them down,” it added.
The ECI has now said that the letter to the Cabinet Secretary was “not related to any policy matter of the Commission or IT division but related to the working of an officer on deputation to ECI”.
“The work re-distribution orders issued by the concerned officer were not actually implemented after the orders of the two Commissioners and the oversight over the IT division by the DEC was never actually withdrawn,” it added.
The Indian Express report also claimed that the centralisation of the electoral roll database ended up disenfranchising 97 potential voters in Goa.
In response, the ECI has said that the Chief Electoral Officer Goa has directed concerned BLOs to conduct house-to-house visits to left-out voters to collect their forms. Of the 97, 81 voters have already filled Form 6 for inclusion, the poll panel asserts.
Online hearings, unanimity claim
The ECI had earlier also issued a statement saying that “differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberation in any institution”.
In its latest press note following the meeting, it has reiterated that in recent months, the Commission has taken numerous decisions including SIR across the country, and that SIR orders were issued unanimously.
“The order for the SIR issued on 24.6.2025 for all the States/UTs, starting with Bihar, followed by West Bengal and 30 other States/UTs was issued with the unanimous approval of the Commission. The same has been upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India vide its order dated 27.5.2026. The schedule for SIR for 12 States and UTs was issued on 27.10.2025 and those for 19 States/ UTs was issued on 14.05.2026 with the unanimous approval of the Commission,” it said.
It added that in cases in which notice has been issued during the SIR process for unmapped and logical discrepancies, BLOs will visit the homes of such persons for collection of documents, and thereafter upload them on ECINet, for decision by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO).
Such people, it said, don’t need to be called for a hearing to the ERO or AERO’s office. “Only in exceptional circumstances, as decided by the ERO, the hearing will be held preferably online. Any adult member of the family can be authorised by the elector to attend the hearing on their behalf, if required. Facilities for the online hearing to be strengthened.”
Further, the EC has decided that for all of its meetings, the agenda will be circulated in advance and minutes will be issued, that the approval of the Commission will be taken for foreign trips of officers, and that the Annual Performance Appraisal Reports (APARs) of all officers will be completed within stipulated time frame, that is by 31 December every year.
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh accused the EC of failing to directly address the allegations in the Indian Express report, questioning its response on deleted voters in Goa, extension of registration deadlines in some states and alleged targeting of Gen Z voters. He demanded that the ongoing SIR exercise be suspended, calling for accountability of CEC Kumar.
“The Press Note does not directly deny the story or its findings. It makes a defensive attempt to downplay the same but it does not say that the allegations are baseless,” Ramesh said in a statement Saturday. “The ongoing SIR which has turned to be method of massive disenfranchisement of several crores of India must be suspended immediately without delay. In the meantime, nothing short of the CEC’s resignation or prosecution will suffice.”
The Election Commission is in damage control mode after it has already caused massive damage to our democracy. It has just issued a wishy-washy Press Note that raises further questions on its intent, integrity, impartiality and credibility. Here is a response to that bogus Press… pic.twitter.com/CwTMC0Uwrs
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 26, 2026
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