EC claims all SIR decisions unanimous; 'no explicit denial of charges,' says Congress
Agenda to be circulated for all its meetings in advance, minutes to be issued, says EC statement as pressure mounts for Gyanesh Kumar to resign as CEC
Days after a storm broke out over the Indian Express's investigative report, on differences between two Election Commissioners and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the SIR exercise, the Election Commission on Saturday (September 26) went into fire-fighting mode.
Amid calls for Kumar's resignation, the EC today claimed that all Special Intensive Revision (SIR) orders were issued after approval from all three Election Commissioners.
It sought to address several concerns raised by media reports, activists and Opposition parties in recent days and recalled that the changes in Form 6, through which names are included in the voters’ list, have been upheld by the Supreme Court.
What letters to Cabinet Secretary were about
The EC said in a statement that the letters sent by the two commissioners—Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi—to the Cabinet Secretary were not related to any policy matter of the EC or its IT division, but to the working of an officer on deputation to the poll panel.
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The work re-distribution orders issued by the officer concerned were not implemented after the orders of the two Commissioners, and the oversight over the IT division by the Deputy Election Commissioner (DEC) was never actually withdrawn, the EC said in the statement, which it said was issued with the approval of the full Commission.
'All decisions by unanimous approval’
The EC said that in recent months, it has taken numerous decisions, including SIR across the country. The order for the SIR issued on June 24, 2025, was issued with its unanimous approval and was upheld by the Supreme Court in its order dated May 27, 2026.
The schedule for SIR for 12 states and UTs was issued on October 27, 2025, and those for 19 states and UTs was issued on May 14, 2026, with the unanimous approval of the EC. The final figure of the number of electors will be known only after final publication in the remaining 12 states of Phase 3, it said.
Agenda and minutes to be made public
The EC statement also promised some course corrections. For all its meetings, the agenda will be circulated in advance and minutes will be issued, it said. All directions issued by Commissioners to officers of poll body will be meticulously complied with, it added.
This is the second EC statement after the Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sandhu and Joshi raised objections on several occasions over decisions and orders regarding the SIR, prompting the Opposition to demand CEC Kumar’s sacking and the scrapping of SIR.
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The poll body issued its first statement on the matter on the day the newspaper reported the issues within the EC. It also said that the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Goa has directed concerned BLOs to conduct house-to-house visits to the left-out voters to collect their forms and 81 of the 97 have already filled Form 6 for inclusion.
The EC also announced a series of major administrative reforms, online system reviews, and deadlines extensions for voter registration during the full Commission meeting. Critical updates have been made to the SIR process, digital accessibility, and internal oversight.
Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will now directly visit the homes of individuals flagged for logical or unmapped discrepancies during the ongoing SIR process. They will collect physical documents and upload them to the internal ECINet system for review.
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The EC clarified that citizens do not need to visit election offices for physical hearings unless exceptional circumstances dictate otherwise, in which case hearings will preferably take place online. Furthermore, an adult family member can be authorized to attend online hearings on behalf of an elector.
Deadlines extended for Delhi, Maharashtra
The EC has extended the timelines for filing claims and objections in two states. In Delhi, the filing period has been extended until October 30, with the disposal of cases extended to November 30. In Maharashtra, the filing period has been extended until October 12, with the disposal of cases extended to November 10.
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To ensure compliance with statutory laws, a newly formed committee headed by the Senior Deputy Election Commissioner and featuring an independent tech expert from an IIT/IIIT will thoroughly review the ECINET portal.
Moving forward, all new IT modules and portal initiatives must pass through a Committee of Officers before being presented to the EC for final approval.
Congress slams press note
In a statement, the Congress rejected the EC’s "defensive" press note and pointed out that it did not explicitly deny the investigative findings.
Highlighting the instance in Goa, the Congress claimed that the EC was “caught out” wrongfully deleting 97 voters, and was now sheepishly attempting to re-enrol 81 of them via Form 6.
While the EC extended voter registration deadlines for Delhi and Maharashtra, the Congress questioned why similar relief was withheld from deleted voters in states like Karnataka, Telangana, Bihar, and West Bengal.
Demands SIR suspension, CEC's removal
The party alleged that the EC had targeted specific voter groups, including Gen Z voters, by introducing illegal mid-July changes to Form 6 that demand parental or grandparental records—a move never approved by Parliament.
The Congress also dismissed the EC’s plan to have IIT/IIIT experts review the ECINet portal, calling it a “meaningless safeguard” because the true issue lies in a centralized system that blocks ground-level voter addition.
Accusing the CEC of unilateral decision-making, bias against the Opposition, and abetting “vote chori” (vote theft) for the ruling regime, Congress demanded the immediate suspension of the ongoing SIR alongside the CEC’s removal.