Turmoil in ECI: Election commissioners were kept in the dark on key decisions

• Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded at least 14 objections over 10 months, according to the Indian Express.

• They said some decisions affecting voter rolls were taken without their knowledge or against their written advice.

• The two commissioners later challenged changes to oversight of the electoral roll’s IT systems. The Election Commission did not respond to the newspaper’s questions.

Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally objected at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions made in the name of the poll panel, according to an investigation by The Indian Express. Their objections concerned voter registration, the removal and restoration of names on electoral rolls, appeals during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), and oversight of the systems holding voter data.

The objections emerged as the SIR, which began in Bihar in June 2025, expanded across the country. More than 13 crore names have been removed from draft electoral rolls in 30 states and Union Territories, according to the report. These are draft figures, and the revision process has prompted intense scrutiny of how the Commission determines who remains on the rolls.

Although the nationwide exercise was under the supervision of all three commissioners, Sandhu and Joshi said in their written communications that certain decisions and orders had been issued without their knowledge. Four of their objections were recorded on a single day. Their communications were copied to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar; some were also addressed to deputy election commissioners. In one objection, Sandhu said the Commission had acted contrary to the written advice of two commissioners and described the action as “unauthorised and illegal”.

The dispute later extended to the administration of the electoral roll’s IT systems. Sandhu and Joshi wrote separately to the Cabinet Secretary about changes in work allocation that they said had removed a layer of oversight. Both maintained that the changes had been made without their knowledge and rejected them, the newspaper reported.

The three commissioners met on 9 September in what the report described as their first full meeting in four months. The Indian Express said it had reviewed the written exchanges and spoken to officials in New Delhi, Kolkata, Goa and Mumbai. It sent questions to the Commission and to Sandhu and Joshi on 21 September, including whether their concerns had been addressed or discussed at that meeting. The newspaper said it received no response.

With PTI inputs