An investigation in The Indian Express has raised serious questions about the functioning of the Election Commission. Over the past 10 months, two of its three Election Commissioners recorded at least 14 formal, on-record objections to decisions taken in the Commission’s name. 

They said some of those decisions were taken without their knowledge. This included a changed Form 6 tying new voter registration to the last SIR held in the early 2000s, restricted access to the electoral roll database (ERONet/ECINet) for EROs, unauthorised appeals filed in West Bengal against court-restored voters, and a software glitch that left 97 eligible voters off Goa's final rolls. The disquiet within the poll body is described as unprecedented.

The Election Commission of India is under fire like never before. The SIR has struck 13 crore names off draft rolls, putting the EC at the centre of intense public debate over its role in deciding who gets to vote — and who doesn’t.HOWEVER, what nobody knew: through that same… pic.twitter.com/CC1QIdqk1L— Ritika Chopra (@RitikaChopra__) September 23, 2026

The Election Commission of India is under fire like never before. The SIR has struck 13 crore names off draft rolls, putting the EC at the centre of intense public debate over its role in deciding who gets to vote — and who doesn’t.HOWEVER, what nobody knew: through that same… pic.twitter.com/CC1QIdqk1L

While the Express investigation has triggered a full-blown political and media storm, the first response to the story came via unnamed sources cited across TV news channels and. Only later did the Commission issue a statement in its own name, saying all its decisions had been unanimous.

The Election Commission of India is under fire like never before. The SIR has struck 13 crore names off draft rolls, putting the EC at the centre of intense public debate over its role in deciding who gets to vote — and who doesn’t.HOWEVER, what nobody knew: through that same… pic.twitter.com/CC1QIdqk1L— Ritika Chopra (@RitikaChopra__) September 23, 2026

The Election Commission of India is under fire like never before. The SIR has struck 13 crore names off draft rolls, putting the EC at the centre of intense public debate over its role in deciding who gets to vote — and who doesn’t.HOWEVER, what nobody knew: through that same… pic.twitter.com/CC1QIdqk1L

Former CECs weigh in on rift

Newslaundry spoke to former CECs to get their opinion on the matter.

The former Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat called the allegations in The Indian Express report as both “unfortunate” and “unprecedented” in the institution’s history. Rawat told Newslaundry that during their tenure at the ECI, dissenting viewpoints were typically resolved through open discussion and consensus building within meetings, resulting in largely unanimous decisions. 

He emphasised that there is no hierarchy between the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners, noting that if two commissioners form a majority against the CEC’s stance, their majority view legally prevails. 

On the integrity of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, he acknowledged that while procedural infirmities existed, the commission had continuously worked to rectify them. 

However, he raised his concern over a recent appellate tribunal ruling in West Bengal, where over a lakh appeals were disposed of, revealing that 93% of disenfranchised individuals were actually eligible voters whose names had been deleted. Terming the wrongful deletion of legitimate voters “criminal,” Rawat stressed that such lapses must never be repeated. 

He added that the allegations of circumventing internal dissent must first be officially checked and it should be found out “whether the dissent was merely oral and remained unrecorded in official minutes.”

We also approached former Chief Election Commissioner TS Krishnamurthy. He told Newslaundry about how dissenting opinions were dealt with during his tenure: “Fortunately, we used to iron out our differences. We used to have unanimous decisions. If there was some difference of opinion, we used to discuss it and find a workable solution.” He added that if........

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