Why India’s Opposition Wants the CEC to Resign Over Voter Roll Revisions
India’s opposition (Congress, TMC, SP, DMK, AAP, Shiv Sena UBT) and Left parties are demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar after an Indian Express investigation found that two other election commissioners formally objected at least 14 times to decisions linked to the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls. The Election Commission says Kumar did not take decisions on his own and that all final decisions were unanimous.
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In a Nutshell
- The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has struck more than 13 crore names from draft voter rolls across 30 states and Union territories since it began in Bihar in June 2025.
- The ECI says SIR is meant to identify fraudulent registrations and prevent illegal immigrants from voting, while critics say marginalised and minority communities have been disproportionately affected.
- BJP leaders have long alleged that undocumented Muslim migrants from Bangladesh have fraudulently entered India’s voter rolls, making the revision particularly contentious in states such as West Bengal.
- Election Commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu formally objected at least 14 times to decisions involving voter registration, deletions, appeals and electoral roll data.
- Form 6, used by new voters, was changed to ask whether applicants or their parents or grandparents appeared on the last SIR roll, despite Joshi and Sandhu recording that the change required an amendment to existing rules.
Context
The Form 6 dispute concerns a new declaration inserted into the online version of the form used by new voters. It asks whether the applicant, their parents, or grandparents appeared on the electoral roll from the last Special Intensive Revision, and applicants who answer yes must provide the earlier roll’s Assembly constituency, polling booth and serial number. They cannot submit the online form without answering the question.
EC Joshi had warned in May that Form 6 could not be changed in this manner without the government amending the relevant rules, and Sandhu agreed. The change was made anyway, prompting Sandhu to record on August 13 that it was “unauthorised and illegal” and should be removed. The physical Form 6 available for download did not contain the new declaration, meaning the change existed in the online system without the statutory form itself being amended.
Why It Matters
The investigation puts the ECI’s internal decision-making under scrutiny at a time when the voter revision has already become a major political dispute. The two commissioners’ objections concern who can change voter records and how new voters establish their eligibility, while the ECI maintains that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar did not make any decisions on his own and that the final decisions were unanimous.
Notably, the Commission has not responded to the Indian Express, which sent questions on September 21 about the objections and how they were handled.
What We Think
The Commission’s claim that decisions were unanimous does not explain why the two commissioners’ objections to the Form 6 change were overridden. The BJP’s claims about undocumented Bangladeshi Muslims on voter rolls also risk being used to justify stricter SIR requirements, without showing that those affected are ineligible voters. As SIR determines who can register or remain on India’s voter rolls, the concern is whether efforts to prevent fraudulent voting are creating new barriers for eligible citizens.