Two Election Commissioners Flagged 14 Poll Panel Decisions

Two of India's three Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, formally raised objections at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders issued by the Election Commission of India, according to an investigation published by The Indian Express on September 23.

The objections concerned some of the Election Commission's core responsibilities, including registration of new voters, deletion and restoration of names, appeals concerning voter inclusion, and access to the systems used to maintain electoral rolls. The report says the objections were also copied to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. (The Indian Express)

INTERNAL OBJECTIONS — KEY NUMBERS
14 — Formal objections recorded over 10 months
2 of 3 — Election Commissioners who raised concerns
4 — Objections recorded on a single day
13+ crore — Names removed from draft rolls across 30 states and Union Territories during the SIR, according to the investigation (The Indian Express)

One major disagreement involved Form 6, which is used for new voter registration. The report says the form began asking applicants whether they, their parents or grandparents appeared in the electoral roll from the previous SIR.

According to The Indian Express, Joshi had recorded in May that such a change could not be made without an amendment to the relevant rules, with Sandhu agreeing with that position. After the change nevertheless appeared, Sandhu wrote on August 13 that it was "unauthorised and illegal" and should be removed. (The Indian Express)

A second area of concern involved control over India's electoral-roll database. The report says Joshi warned about what he described as a "gradual centralisation of the electoral roll database", while Sandhu subsequently raised concerns that state-level election officials did not have complete access to ERONet, the system used for maintaining electoral rolls. These descriptions represent the commissioners' recorded concerns as reported by The Indian Express. (The Indian Express)

The disagreements eventually reached beyond the Election Commission itself. The investigation says Sandhu and Joshi separately wrote to Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan over changes in work allocation affecting oversight of the IT systems supporting electoral rolls. (The Indian Express)

FOUR AREAS FLAGGED IN THE INVESTIGATION
New voters — Changes involving Form 6
Electoral-roll systems — Concerns over database access and centralisation
West Bengal — Questions over who authorised appeals concerning restored voters
Goa — Software issues involving restoration of eligible voters (The Indian Express)

The West Bengal SIR generated another disagreement. According to the investigation, Sandhu sought information about who authorised appeals filed against voters whom judicial officers had included in the rolls. He recorded that neither he, Joshi nor the state's current Chief Electoral Officer had been informed about the basis or process behind those appeals. (The Indian Express)

In Goa, the report describes a separate software-related problem involving 97 voters. Electoral Registration Officers found them eligible after hearings following a Supreme Court direction, but the system did not provide a mechanism to record the reversal of their earlier deletion in time for publication of the final electoral roll, according to The Indian Express. (The Indian Express)

The internal disagreements are significant because the Election Commission is a three-member constitutional body. Under Section 18 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, its business is, as far as possible, to be conducted unanimously; where the commissioners differ, decisions are made according to the majority opinion. The investigation says both commissioners referred to legal requirements governing collective decision-making in their internal notes. (The Indian Express)

The three commissioners held a full meeting on September 9, which The Indian Express reported was their first full meeting in four months. (The Indian Express)

The Indian Express said it sent questions to the Election Commission on September 21 seeking its response to the issues raised by Sandhu and Joshi and asking what had been done to address them. The publication reported that it had received no response by publication time. It also said Sandhu and Joshi had not responded to its requests for comment. (The Indian Express)

The findings therefore represent The Indian Express's investigation based on internal exchanges it says it reviewed and interviews with officials. The report raises questions about internal decision-making during the SIR process, while the Election Commission had not provided a response to the publication before the report was published. (The Indian Express)