14 objections in 10 months, but 5 joint briefings: Inside the ECI muddle

Even as the two Election Commissioners formally recorded objections to several decisions of the Election Commission over 10 months, the three-member poll panel continued to present a united public face at key election briefings. Between October 28, 2025 and August 14, 2026 - the period during which the Election Commissioners objected 14 times to various decisions, including the SIR exercise - the poll panel held four joint briefings and also hosted the International Conference on Democracy and Election Management (IICDEM).

However, in neither of those briefings did the Election Commissioners - Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi - voice their grievances or let their dissent known. An Indian Express investigation found that Sandhu and Joshi objected to decisions relating to new voters, deletion and restoration of names from electoral rolls, appeals against voter-related orders and access to the ECI software where voter data is maintained.

The objections, in most cases, were copied to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, who has faced renewed opposition fire and calls for his resignation. The three election commissioners at the IICDEM 2026 in Delhi 5 JOINT APPEARANCES OVER LAST 10 MONTHS

We found that the three commissioners appeared together at four key election-related briefings - October 27, February 18, March 10, and March 15 - even as objections were being recorded internally.

On October 27, 2025, the ECI announced the second phase of SIR covering 12 states/UTs. CEC Gyanesh Kumar addressed the media, with Sandhu and Joshi present. While the SIR exercise included poll-bound states of Bengal, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, the ECI left out Assam, triggering a major controversy.

Then, the CEC justified that Assam could not be covered by the same SIR norms applicable to other states, as the state had different criteria for determining citizenship.

As per the Express report, the very next day (October 28), Sandhu objected to letters and orders being issued in the ECI's name without the poll panel's approval. It is, however, not exactly known what the specific order being referred to is.OBJECTIONS TO SOFTWARE BEFORE LAUNCH

Another red flag raised by the Election Commissioners was restricted access to ERONet, the electoral roll database, by state-level election officials.

Over the years, ERONet has been used by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) in states to add, delete, or reinstate voter names in the database. It was kept decentralised, enabling the ECI to tackle charges of mass manipulation of electoral rolls.

The software is maintained by the Election Commission's Director General of IT, Seema Khanna.

On November 4, 2025, the Deputy Election Commissioner, Sanjay Kumar, first flagged that EROs were being restricted from accessing the software. As per the Express report, Kumar raised the issue with Khanna on the directions of Sandhu.

The concern was raised weeks before the ECI was to launch a revamped software, ECINet, to bring all election-related portals under one roof.

Another letter went out to Khanna on January 2, 2026, when the SIR exercise across 12 states was gathering momentum. In the letter, Kumar wrote to Khanna to ensure that the IT system was made in a manner such that it doesn't restrict the statutory rights of EROs.

Twenty days later, ECINet was launched at the IICDEM in Delhi by all three election commissioners. The three commissioners also signed the Delhi declaration that called for purity of electoral rolls, conduct of elections, and use of technology for capacity building.

However, months later, the Express report shows, the two election commissioners flagged the gradual "centralisation" of the electoral roll database. Moreover, Sandhu complained of being kept in the dark over "new modules" and "portals" being developed by Seema Khanna's IT division.LAST JOINT APPEARANCE IN MARCH

In between, the three election commissioners held three joint press conferences.

The first was in Guwahati on February 18 this year on poll preparedness in Assam. The briefing came after the trio met political parties during a three-day visit. There, Gynesh Kumar spoke about the successful completion of the Special Revision of voter rolls in Assam.

The second time the election commissioners came together was in Kolkata on March 10. The briefing came amid a massive controversy after the final electoral roll left out over 60 lakh voters.While the CEC committed to maintain the "purity" of the voter list, he did not reply to questions on the deadline to clear the flagged names. Kumar asserted that no eligible voter would be excluded from the rolls.

However, months later, Election Commissioner Sandhu flagged that 16 lakh appeals were filed before the tribunals challenging the inclusion of voters in Bengal. In August, Sandhu wrote to officials asking who authorised the filing of the appeals "on behalf of the ECI".

"Who was authorised to file these appeals on behalf of the ECI, and by whom?" Sandhu sought to know, Express reported.

The third and last joint media briefing was in New Delhi on March 15, when the ECI announced the schedules for Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry. Here too, Sandhu and Joshi were present, putting up a united front.

However, within the ECI, internal disagreements over SIR and the ECINet software continued.WHAT DID THE ELECTION COMMISSION SAY?

The Election Commission, in its response to the Express investigation, has not disputed the existence, dates or contents of the 14 notes.

However, it has characterised the observations as part of the normal decision-making process. The poll watchdog maintained that decisions taken by the ECI over the past 10 months were unanimous.

"Highlighting certain specific internal notes spread over the period of 10 months while overlooking the much larger body of approvals, decisions, instructions and initiatives gives only one part of the picture," the ECI statement said.

Notably, the statement was signed by all three Election Commission members.- EndsPublished By: Abhishek DePublished On: Sep 24, 2026 14:54 IST