The Election Commission has rejected reports of an internal disagreement over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, saying decisions connected with the exercise were taken unanimously by the three-member poll panel.
EC Responds to Report of 14 Objections
The clarification follows a report by The Indian Express that said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on record 14 times over the past 10 months regarding decisions linked to the SIR exercise.
According to Election Commission sources cited by PTI, however, these concerns did not amount to a disagreement over the final decisions of the Commission.
The sources said that all decisions, including those relating to the SIR, had the approval of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sandhu and Joshi.
Concerns Were Raised Over Voter Roll Procedures
The Election Commission acknowledged that Sandhu and Joshi had flagged certain issues concerning the electoral roll process.
These included matters related to the deletion of names from voter lists in different states and the handling and management of voter data.
The EC's position is that raising concerns or seeking clarification on specific aspects of the process should not be interpreted as a disagreement with the Commission's final decisions.
What the Indian Express Reported
The Indian Express investigation presented a different account, reporting that Sandhu and Joshi had formally objected to several decisions and processes associated with the SIR. It reported that their concerns included changes to Form 6, voter additions and deletions, and the management of the digital systems used for electoral rolls.
The report also said the two Commissioners had raised concerns about what they described as increasing centralisation of access to the electoral roll database.
The newspaper reported that the objections were recorded through official communications over a period of around 10 months.
SIR Remains Under Public and Legal Scrutiny
The Special Intensive Revision has been the subject of political and legal debate, particularly over procedures for verifying voter records, deleting entries and restoring names to electoral rolls.
The Supreme Court is also dealing with matters connected to the SIR process in different states, including challenges concerning electoral roll procedures.
For now, the Election Commission has maintained that there was no division in the final decision-making of the three-member panel and that decisions related to the SIR were taken unanimously.
The reported objections by the two Election Commissioners, meanwhile, concern specific aspects of the electoral-roll process and remain part of the ongoing public discussion surrounding the SIR exercise
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