Opinion | SIR, The Election Commission, And A Trust Deficit

Updated: Oct 02, 2026 11:37 am IST Published On Oct 02, 2026 11:36 am IST Last Updated On Oct 02, 2026 11:37 am IST

Published On Oct 02, 2026 11:36 am IST

Last Updated On Oct 02, 2026 11:37 am IST

Politics over the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of electoral rolls is becoming increasingly bitter. The Congress has stepped up its attack on the ECI (Election Commission of India) and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, while the INDIA bloc is preparing to coordinate its response. Members of the INDIA bloc also held a strategic meeting on the same issue in New Delhi on September 30.

Both ECI and SIR processes are also under legal scrutiny with the top courts questioning its functioning recently. On September 28, the Calcutta High Court pulled up EC over its handling of a party poll symbol dispute between two factions of Trinamool Congress, and went on to suggest ‘connivance' between the poll panel and one of the disputing parties.

Next day (September 29), the Supreme Court agreed to take up a petition questioning CEC's functioning and seeking to declare SIR illegal.

Meanwhile, BJP has accused Congress for targeting ECI, with party leaders stating that Congress should be introspecting its defeats.

It would be good for the Centre to come clean on SIR and the CEC's reported conduct and restore peoples' faith in the electoral process.

Restoring public trust

Mitigating the controversy to yet another Congress-versus-BJP clash misses the larger issue. Electoral rolls belong to citizens, not political parties. The EC is a constitutional institution, not an arm of either the........

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