2 Indian election commissioners objected 14 times in 10 months over voter deletions: Report

India's Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi flagged several issues, including the deletion of voters' names, during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, according to a report by The Indian Express.

The report said the two commissioners formally objected at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders they said were taken without their knowledge. Four of the objections were reportedly made on a single day.

The objections reportedly involved issues related to the addition of new voters, deletion of names from electoral rolls, changes to Form 6 and the handling and centralisation of voter databases.

The nationwide rollout of the SIR has been supervised by all three members of the Election Commission of India (ECI), including Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

However, the Election Commission said differences of opinion and observations are a normal part of institutional deliberations and form part of the decision-making process before a final decision is reached.

"Not only the three Election Commissioners but every officer of the Election Commission is fully authorised to give his suggestions to the Commission for improving the electoral system," the poll body said in a statement.

The EC said focusing on certain internal notes and observations over a 10-month period, while overlooking the larger body of approvals, decisions, instructions and initiatives, presents only "one part of the picture".

It said the Commission had taken numerous decisions, issued instructions, introduced around 40 new initiatives and undertaken several electoral reforms in recent months, including electoral roll revisions and the SIR across the country.

"All these decisions are an outcome of the unanimous decisions of the full Commission in the past one year," the EC said.

Responding to queries following the report, EC officials also said the two commissioners had raised concerns over voter deletions and the handling of voter databases, but maintained that all decisions of the poll panel, including those related to the SIR, were unanimous.

The officials said the law governing the functioning of the Election Commission and a Supreme Court judgment provide that decisions should be taken unanimously as far as possible, with the majority view prevailing where necessary.

According to The Indian Express, Sandhu and Joshi had raised concerns over the SIR on multiple occasions, including issues related to changes to the voter application process, centralised control of voter databases and the handling of appeals against voter deletions.

Opposition renews call for CEC's removal

The report triggered fresh criticism from opposition parties, which questioned the functioning of the Election Commission and renewed demands for the removal of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.

Opposition leaders alleged that the SIR could disproportionately affect voters they claim are not aligned with the BJP and its allies, while criticising the commission over the reported objections raised by the two Election Commissioners.

Some opposition leaders accused Kumar of undermining the credibility of the poll panel and called for his removal.

The BJP, meanwhile, defended the Election Commission and said the internal correspondence between its three commissioners demonstrated that deliberations were taking place within the constitutional body.

BJP MP Sambit Patra, speaking at a press conference, cited the EC's statement and said correspondence among the three Election Commissioners had taken place on 14 occasions.

"This is official deliberation among the three election commissioners. What do we gather from this? The BJP did not go and plant a story in the media saying that there had been official deliberations among the three commissioners. Such deliberations are actually a sign of a healthy democracy," he said.

Patra also accused the opposition of questioning the functioning of the three Election Commissioners both when they appeared to agree and now that correspondence between them had emerged.

The controversy comes as the ECI continues its nationwide revision of electoral rolls, an exercise that has drawn scrutiny over voter deletions and the procedures used to verify voters' eligibility.