By Ritika Chopra

The Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which began in Bihar in June 2025, an otherwise routine clean-up of the rolls, has struck more than 13 crore names off the draft voter rolls in 30 States and Union Territories. This has put the Election Commission at the centre of intense public debate over its role in deciding who gets to vote – and who doesn’t.

An investigation by The Indian Express reveals that questions were raised on these very issues within the three-member Election Commission (EC) itself, time and again through much of this same period. By two of the three Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, no less.

◆ why this matters ◆

◆ 2 out of 3 Election Commissioners complained about being kept in the dark about various steps, including adding new voters, and deleting names.

◆ They called steps on new voters ‘unauthorised, illegal’; warned against voter database access being ‘centralised’ in Delhi, bypassing state officials.

◆ On concerns over integrity of voter software, dissenting Commissioners even knocked on the Cabinet Secretary’s door.

◆ This marks an unprecedented rupture inside the Election Commission and reveals a cloud over its conduct.

The national rollout of the SIR has been under the supervision of all three Commissioners. But Sandhu and Joshi have formally objected, on record, at least 14 times over the last 10 months – four times on a single day – to decisions taken and orders issued, they say, without their knowledge. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

For, the objections relate to the core of the Election Commission’s mandate: new voter registration, deletion and restoration of voters in the rolls; filing of appeals against orders restoring voters in the SIR process; and the custody, and security, of the entire electoral roll itself. All objections related to these were copied to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, too. Some were sent to Deputy Election Commissioners under their watch.

This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.