Archive · 23 Sep 2026
Election Commission Rift Raises Questions Over Electoral Safeguards
The Election Commission helps decide who can vote.
Two of its members say important decisions were made without properly consulting them.
They also say a computer system controlled from Delhi stopped a Goa officer from recording 97 people as eligible voters.
This could mean that someone who proves they can vote still might not appear on the voter list.
The Commissioners objected to a new form asking new voters about their parents’ and grandparents’ past voter-list records.
They say this could make a parent’s disputed record affect a child’s registration.
They are also worried that too much control has moved from local election officers to a central team.
Earlier disagreements inside the Commission focused on individual issues, but these objections concern how the institution itself is working.
The article says this has raised concerns about safeguards for elections.
Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections about voter registration, deletions and the electoral-roll software.
In Goa, 97 applicants were deemed eligible by the Electoral Registration Officer, but the central software did not allow those decisions to be entered.
A Form-6 change asks new voters whether their parents or grandparents appeared on the last Special Intensive Revision roll.
The Commissioners said centralised control of the digital system could weaken constituency-level safeguards and allow decisions to be stalled or overridden.
They also said decisions, orders and cases were taken in the Commission’s name without their consultation or knowledge.
- Who
- Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, along with the Election Commission and its election officers.
- What
- The Commissioners recorded objections about centralised voter-roll software, changes to new-voter forms and decisions allegedly made without their consultation.
- When
- The article discusses current objections and compares them with disputes in 2009 and 2019.
- Where
- The concerns include the Election Commission headquarters in Delhi and a voter-registration episode in Goa.
- Why
- They said centralised systems and unconsulted decisions could weaken electoral safeguards and affect voter registration.
- Commissioners raising objections
- Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi
- Goa case
- 97 people were found eligible by an Electoral Registration Officer, but the software did not permit the decisions to be recorded.
- Form affected
- Form-6, used in the registration of new voters
- Central control
- The article says the voter-roll software is controlled from Election Commission headquarters in Delhi.
- Constitutional structure
- The Election Commission is a three-member constitutional body.
- Decision-making rule
- The law says its business should, as far as possible, be conducted unanimously, with majority decisions when members differ.
- Earlier dissent
- The article cites disputes involving N Gopalaswami and Navin Chawla in 2009, and Ashok Lavasa and Sunil Arora in 2019.