A fresh controversy has erupted over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls after a report found that 97 voters in Goa remained out of the final voter list even though local election officials had reportedly cleared their cases.
The issue has triggered fresh criticism from the Congress, which has accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Election Commission of centralising control over the voter-list process.
The controversy centres on ECINet, the Election Commission’s digital system used for electoral-roll management. According to an Indian Express investigation, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) in Goa had examined the cases of 97 voters and found them eligible for inclusion, but their earlier deletions could not be reversed through the system before the final electoral roll was published.
How the 97 voters were left out
The issue came to light during the final stage of Goa’s SIR process.
According to the report, Goa Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Goel sent the Election Commission eight emails within seven days seeking a facility to restore the names of the 97 voters.
The voters had reportedly appeared before the local Electoral Registration Officers, who examined their documents and found them eligible under the process followed for the revision of the electoral roll.
However, the EROs were reportedly unable to reverse the earlier deletion decisions through ECINet because the required permission was controlled centrally.
On February 17, just four days before the final electoral roll was published, Goa’s CEO again sent the list of 97 voters to the Election Commission and sought action to include their names.
The next day, according to the report, a Deputy Election Commissioner also wrote to the Election Commission’s IT division, saying the software should not prevent officials from carrying out the action required under the Supreme Court-directed process.
Despite this, the final electoral roll was published on February 21, and the 97 names were reportedly still missing when they were checked later.
Congress attacks Election Commission
The development has given the Opposition another issue to raise questions over the SIR exercise and the functioning of the Election Commission.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Goa case showed how the centralised electoral-roll system could prevent local officials from implementing decisions taken at their level.
Ramesh argued that Electoral Registration Officers have statutory responsibilities relating to electoral rolls and questioned the restriction on their ability to make corrections through the software.
Congress also directly targeted CEC Gyanesh Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue, alleging that the election process had been compromised. These are political allegations by the Congress and have not been established as findings against the Election Commission or the Prime Minister.
Shashi Tharoor calls report serious
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also reacted to the report and described the issue as serious.
He alleged that keeping eligible voters out of the electoral roll could affect their constitutional right to vote and called for corrective action.
The Congress has again demanded Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation while questioning the use of centralised software for electoral-roll decisions.
Controversy comes amid reported differences inside ECI
The Goa case has emerged just a day after another report raised questions about differences within the three-member Election Commission.
An Indian Express investigation reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally raised objections on at least 14 occasions over a period of 10 months concerning decisions related to voter registration, deletion of names and the functioning of electoral-roll software.
The report said some of the objections involved concerns over the increasing centralisation of the electoral-roll system and the role of ground-level election officials.
The issue has since become a major political flashpoint, with Opposition parties questioning the Election Commission’s handling of voter rolls.
Election Commission says decisions were unanimous
The Election Commission has rejected the suggestion that the reported differences amounted to an internal split.
In its response, the poll panel said differences of opinion can arise during internal discussions but maintained that decisions, including those concerning the SIR exercise, were taken unanimously.
The Election Commission’s position is significant because the Opposition has used the reported objections by the two Election Commissioners to question how major decisions concerning electoral rolls were being taken.
Why the Goa case matters
The 97 voters are a relatively small number compared with India’s overall electorate, but the case has raised a larger question about how decisions taken by Electoral Registration Officers are recorded in the Election Commission’s digital system.
The Indian Express report said the affected voters were from several Goa constituencies. It also noted that being absent from the electoral roll can have consequences beyond voting, as some Goa government welfare schemes use voter status as an eligibility requirement.
The latest controversy has therefore shifted attention from the broader SIR exercise to the functioning of ECINet and the extent to which ground-level election officials can implement decisions on voter inclusion.
The Election Commission and state election authorities have yet to publicly provide a detailed explanation addressing every aspect of the 97 cases.
