14 Times In 10 Months, Two Election Commissioners Objected On Record To Steps Taken By Commission — From Keeping Them In The Dark To Adding New Voters And Deleting Names, Pg3

Key Highlights:

• Two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, formally objected on record at least 14 times in 10 months to decisions made by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
• Their objections primarily concerned decisions taken without their knowledge regarding new voter registration, deletion, restoration of voters, and the security of the electoral roll.
• The dissent arose during the nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which has removed over 13 crore names from draft voter lists across 30 States and Union Territories.
• The Chief Election Commissioner is Gyanesh Kumar, with Sandhu and Joshi serving as the other two Election Commissioners.
• The two Election Commissioners also wrote to the Cabinet Secretary regarding changes in work allocation that affected oversight of the IT backbone for electoral rolls.

Detailed Insights:

• The internal dissent within the three-member Election Commission of India (ECI) is unprecedented in its scale and significance.
• The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a routine exercise to clean up voter rolls by identifying deceased, shifted, duplicate, or ineligible voters.
• The Election Commissioners were appointed under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
• Opposition leaders had recorded dissent over the appointment process of the current Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.
• Specific objections included official communications issued without Commission approval, changes to Form 6 (new voter application) without government approval, and concerns about the centralization and audit of the electoral roll database.
• One Election Commissioner also raised concerns about field officers being restricted from accessing the ECI Net system.
• The objections highlight concerns about transparency and the integrity of the electoral process, particularly regarding the core mandate of the ECI.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Election Commission of India (ECI): A constitutional body responsible for conducting free and fair elections in India.
• Special Intensive Revision (SIR): A comprehensive exercise by the ECI to verify and update electoral rolls by adding eligible voters and removing ineligible entries.
• Form 6: The application form used by citizens to register as new voters or to shift their registration to a new constituency.
• Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023: The law governing the appointment, service conditions, and tenure of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.