EC Says CEC Not Acting Alone on SIR, Denies Unilateral Decisions

The Election Commission has pushed back against allegations that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has been acting unilaterally on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the commission said all three SIR orders, dated June 2025, October 2025 and May 2026, were unanimous decisions.

The commission conceded that the online form may have looked as though it had been changed. It said that from October 21, the online application will separate Form 6 and the declaration, in the same way the physical form does.

According to the ECI, voters who are not mapped will not have to attend hearings in person. Instead, BLOs will go to their homes to collect documents. Hearings will be held only in exceptional situations and, wherever possible, online.

The commission also said that no name is added to or removed from the voter list without an order from the ERO. An expert panel drawn from IIT and IISc has been set up to examine whether the rules are being followed.

On the Goa case, it said that out of 97 voters who were left out, 88 were already in the electoral roll, six were abroad, and three had Portuguese passports.

In the West Bengal appeals, the commission said the challenges to inclusion of names were filed by the Chief Electoral Officer's office officials under Supreme Court orders, and were never brought before the commission.

Raising questions over the petition's maintainability, the commission said that the procedure to remove a CEC resembles the process for removing a Supreme Court judge. It also denied that any internal document had been released to the media and said it had not authorised any such release.

On EVM challenges, the commission noted that the Supreme Court has dismissed such petitions several times. Owing to the Dussehra holiday, it has filed a brief response for now and sought the court's permission to submit a fuller, point-wise reply.

The affidavit is a response to petitions filed by 13 opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Congress MP. These petitions challenge the commission's conduct and the SIR across states. The reply was approved unanimously by the CEC and both Election Commissioners.

The commission said the petition is based on a single news report and that the claim of one-sided decisions by CEC Gyanesh Kumar is incorrect. It explained that files go from one Election Commissioner to another and then to the CEC, and that notes or queries are not decisions.

The affidavit states that the July 28 order was issued by an Additional Secretary. Both Election Commissioners wrote to the Cabinet Secretary the next day, and after a joint direction on July 30, the order was not implemented. It further said Form 6 has not been altered and can be changed only by the government, while the SIR declaration remains a separate document.