Poll Panel Dissent Row: Opposition Seeks CEC Impeachment, ECI Denies Any Objections

A report claiming that two election commissioners objected on record to several decisions of the Election Commission of India has triggered a fierce political confrontation, with Opposition parties demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar even as the poll body denied that any commissioner had dissented.

According to the report, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised formal objections at least 14 times over a span of ten months. The objections reportedly covered changes to Form 6 and the centralisation of electoral roll data. The two commissioners are said to have described the Form 6 changes as "illegal" and "unauthorised", arguing that the statutory form could not be altered without amending the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. Sandhu is said to have recorded later that the changes were not withdrawn despite the objections.

Sources with direct knowledge of the matter, however, said no election commissioner had given any dissent. They had only made observations, which the poll body examined, the sources said. All decisions of the commission carry the signatures of the Chief Election Commissioner and both election commissioners, they added. The ECI's rules provide that a majority decision prevails when two of the three commissioners agree. An official familiar with the matter said all decisions, including those related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), were unanimous and had the approval of the CEC and both commissioners.

The controversy has sharpened the long-running dispute between the Opposition and the ruling BJP over the SIR of voter rolls, which the Opposition has alleged is designed to exclude voters to benefit the BJP.

Shiv Sena (UT) leader Sanjay Raut told NDTV that the Chief Election Commissioner was committing the biggest crime a person in that office could commit against democracy, and that no free and fair election was possible while he held the post if the reported allegations were true. He also questioned the BJP's victories in Maharashtra, West Bengal and other states.

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien, in a post on X, recalled that more than 60 Rajya Sabha MPs had earlier asked the Chairman to move a motion for removing Gyanesh Kumar, and said it was time to bring out that motion. Congress leader Manish Tewari called for impeachment of the CEC, writing on X that the case merited serious consideration of such a proceeding, and asking how the credibility of the Election Commission could ever be restored.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav described the commission as a "puppet" and said betraying democracy by becoming a tool of those in power was a grave constitutional crime. DMK national spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai told NDTV that the SIR exercise had been made a mockery, with people whose names appear in the draft roll still being questioned about their absence from the 2002 roll.

In Delhi, more than 97 lakh names figure in the draft electoral roll published on August 31, while 33.13 lakh electors have been identified for notices over discrepancies in their enumeration forms. Many of the cases involve details that do not match the roll prepared during the previous SIR in 2002. Among those who received notices are External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy prime minister LK Advani, former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar and Election Commissioner S S Sandhu. The notices cite various discrepancies, including cases where voters could not be mapped to the previous SIR roll.