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India's Election Commission Faces Scrutiny Over Voter Roll Revisions
Confirmed
In Short: India's Election Commission is under scrutiny after two of its members objected to decisions made during a nationwide voter roll revision, including changes they said were unauthorized.
India's Election Commission is facing fresh scrutiny after an investigation revealed that two of its three members, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, repeatedly objected to decisions made during a nationwide revision of voter rolls. These objections, recorded at least 14 times over 10 months, included changes they said were carried out without their knowledge or approval, according to The Indian Express on Wednesday, September 23.
The Election Commission rejected suggestions that these exchanges indicated a breakdown in its decision-making process. In a statement issued after the report, the Commission said differing views and written observations were a normal part of internal deliberations and that all major decisions taken by the full Commission over the past year, including those relating to the voter-roll revision, had been unanimous.
The Commission began a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar in June 2025, citing years of migration, deaths, duplicate registrations, and other changes that had reduced the accuracy of the state’s voter lists. The court had previously ruled that the revision served a legitimate purpose and that the Commission had authority to carry out limited scrutiny of citizenship when deciding voter eligibility.
In one case, Sandhu described a change to the voter-registration process as “unauthorized and illegal.” In others, the commissioners warned that control of the electoral database was being centralized in New Delhi in ways that could restrict the powers of local officials who are legally responsible for deciding who appears on the rolls.
India’s Election Commission is not run by its chief alone. Under the Constitution, authority over national and state elections is vested in the Election Commission as an institution. The Commission’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar said that not a single appeal had been filed against name deletion before district collectors in the 12 states where the SIR is complete.
Kumar was responding to questions regarding thousands of complaints stemming from the SIR of electoral rolls and whether these could be resolved before the next Lok Sabha election in 2029. The Election Commission revealed this in an RTI reply filed by Congress MP Isha Khan Chowdhury.
During his speech on conducting elections in India, Kumar reiterated the sanctity of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), which he said had survived 41 challenges in the Supreme Court. He outlined the role of political agents from the drafting of electoral rolls to the supervision of the voting and counting processes.
Article 324(2) of the Constitution states that Election Commissioners should be appointed in a manner “subject to the provisions of any law made in that behalf by Parliament.” In the absence of such a law, appointments remain under the executive’s domain. Notably, in its March 2023 ruling in Anoop Baranwal vs Union of India, the Supreme Court laid down an interim process for appointing Election Commissioners until Parliament enacted a law on the issue.
What this adds
The scrutiny comes amid ongoing voter roll revisions in various states, including Delhi, where notices were issued to political figures such as Arvind Kejriwal and Rekha Gupta. The notices were part of the standard verification process and did not indicate any irregularities.
What's confirmed
- India's Election Commission is facing fresh scrutiny after an investigation revealed that two of its three members, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, repeatedly objected to decisions made during a nationwide revision of voter rolls. These objections, recorded at least 14 times over 10 months, included changes they said were carried out without their knowledge or approval, according to The Indian Express on Wednesday, September 23.
- The Election Commission rejected suggestions that these exchanges indicated a breakdown in its decision-making process. In a statement issued after the report, the Commission said differing views and written observations were a normal part of internal deliberations and that all major decisions taken by the full Commission over the past year, including those relating to the voter-roll revision, had been unanimous.
- The Commission began a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar in June 2025, citing years of migration, deaths, duplicate registrations, and other changes that had reduced the accuracy of the state’s voter lists. The court had previously ruled that the revision served a legitimate purpose and that the Commission had authority to carry out limited scrutiny of citizenship when deciding voter eligibility.
- In one case, Sandhu described a change to the voter-registration process as “unauthorized and illegal.” In others, the commissioners warned that control of the electoral database was being centralized in New Delhi in ways that could restrict the powers of local officials who are legally responsible for deciding who appears on the rolls.
- India’s Election Commission is not run by its chief alone. Under the Constitution, authority over national and state elections is vested in the Election Commission as an institution. The Commission’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar said that not a single appeal had been filed against name deletion before district collectors in the 12 states where the SIR is complete.
- Kumar was responding to questions regarding thousands of complaints stemming from the SIR of electoral rolls and whether these could be resolved before the next Lok Sabha election in 2029. The Election Commission revealed this in an RTI reply filed by Congress MP Isha Khan Chowdhury.
- During his speech on conducting elections in India, Kumar reiterated the sanctity of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), which he said had survived 41 challenges in the Supreme Court. He outlined the role of political agents from the drafting of electoral rolls to the supervision of the voting and counting processes.
- Article 324(2) of the Constitution states that Election Commissioners should be appointed in a manner “subject to the provisions of any law made in that behalf by Parliament.” In the absence of such a law, appointments remain under the executive’s domain. Notably, in its March 2023 ruling in Anoop Baranwal vs Union of India, the Supreme Court laid down an interim process for appointing Election Commissioners until Parliament enacted a law on the issue.
What's still developing
- “India is the only democracy to be concurrently audited by political parties at every stage of the electoral process,” the CEC said.
- "As per the standard operating procedures of the Election Commission of India (ECI), a Notice was issued to the elector and physical field verification was conducted by the designated Booth Level Officer (BLO)," the statement said.
- The development came amid a notice issued to former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and his family members as part of the ongoing SIR process of electoral rolls in the national capital.
- The notices have been issued to Arvind Kejriwal, his wife Sunita Kejriwal, son Pulkit Kejriwal, and parents Gobind Ram Kejriwal and Gita Devi under the category of voters "unmapped with last SIR" in Delhi.
- According to documents from the Delhi Election Commission, among the 110 voters of Part-51, KG Marg, in the New Delhi Assembly constituency who have been issued notices, the names of Arvind Kejriwal and five members of his family are included.
- The Commission further stated that after verification of facts and documents provided by the elector, the entry of the Delhi Chief Minister has been validated and parked for inclusion in the Final Electoral Roll of AC-14 (Shalimar Bagh), scheduled for official publication on November 4, as per the ECI.
- Arvind Kejriwal is a registered voter in the New Delhi-40 Assembly constituency.
- The five members of the Kejriwal family are among 110 people who have been served notices in the specific part segment of Assembly Constituency 40, which covers the New Delhi constituency. (Credits: Amit Bhardwaj) The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), New Delhi, said the Enumeration Forms submitted by Kejriwal and his family members did not contain complete details needed to link them with the electoral rolls from the last revision in their respective states.
- “The submitted Enumeration Forms were not complete in terms of details which would have enabled linkage of themselves with the electoral roll of last revision of respective states, which were not present in their submitted Enumeration Forms,” the ERO said in a press statement.
- “Notices are being issued to the electors, who could not be linked with the electoral roll of last revision and those having logical discrepancies in their linking with the electoral roll of last revision,” the statement said.
- The Election Commission has also said that Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta received a notice after her name appeared in the list of discrepancies during the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls.