On Saturday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) addressed growing criticism regarding its operations. The ECI emphasized that all decisions related to the special intensive revision of electoral rolls were made unanimously. Additionally, the Commission clarified several key issues raised by both the government and the Opposition, aiming to reinforce its commitment to transparency and integrity in the electoral process.
It also announced additional steps to ensure that the decisions of all commissioners were complied with. “For all commission’s meeting, agenda will be circulated in advance and minutes will be issued. APARs {Annual Performance Appraisal Reports} of all the officers will be completed within the stipulated time frame, i.e., 31st December every year. Approval of the Commission will be taken for foreign trips of the officers.
All directions issued by the commissioners to the officers of the commission shall be meticulously complied with,” it said.
It also alleged that election officials found their access to the ECI software curtailed by the central IT team. It pushed back against allegations of centralisation of its backend software but added that a panel will review the oversight and access mechanisms. “Field officers have role-based access to the ECINET system as per their statutory powers.
On Monday, an Indian Express investigation said Sandhu and Joshi had recorded written dissents and objections at least 14 times between November 2025 and August 2026 and even written to the cabinet secretary. “The order for the SIR issued on 24.6.2025 for all the States/UTs, starting with Bihar, followed by West Bengal and 30 other States/UTs was issued with the unanimous approval of the commission. The same has been upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India vide its order dated 27.5.2026. The schedule for SIR for 12 States and UTs was issued on 27.10.2025 and those for 19 States/ UTs was issued on 14.05.2026 with the unanimous approval of the commission,” the note said. ECI also said that in Goa – where 97 voters deemed eligible to be included in the electoral roll by local election authorities found themselves deleted in the final roll – the chief election officer directed concerned booth-level officers to conduct house-to-house visits to left-out voters to collect their forms.
In the first public meeting of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and election commissioners SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi since the controversy began earlier this week, ECI sought to push back on criticism of its backend software, set up a review and said any future decisions on new digital initiatives will involve further discussions and checks. ECI has said differing views and observations were a normal part of deliberation and that all its digital platforms operated under strict data security protocols to prevent unauthorised tampering or manipulation. In its note, ECI clarified that the letter to cabinet secretary TV Somanathan was not related “to any policy matter of the commission or IT division but related to working of an officer on deputation to ECI”. “The work redistribution orders issued by the concerned officer were not actually implemented after the orders of the two commissioners and the oversight over the IT division by the DEC was never actually withdrawn,” it added. “81 voters out of 97 have already filled Form 6 for inclusion,” the note added. A committee headed by senior deputy election commissioner (DEC) and including an independent expert from IIT/IIIT will review the ECINET to double-check that it complies with the provisions of the acts and rules and submit report to the commission,” it said.
