Page 2 - Election Commission

Amid report of rift, EC says all SIR orders were unanimously approved

People issued notices during SIR need not appear for personal hearings, except in exceptional cases, the Election Commission said

INDIA bloc likely to meet on September 30 over EC row, SIR concerns

Opposition INDIA bloc parties are likely to meet in New Delhi on September 30 to discuss concerns over the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, besides other issues, sources said. The proposed meeting comes amid increased coordination among opposition parties over the Election Commission following reports of differences within the poll panel over aspects of the SIR exercise. The parties have been in touch with each other on the issue and are discussing a joint response, sources added. The CPI(M), CPI and CPI(ML)-Liberation have demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and an immediate halt to the SIR, while the Congress has also stepped up its attack on Kumar. The Congress Working Committee is scheduled to meet on September 29 to discuss its strategy on the issue. The developments have also brought West Bengal's bitter political rivals, the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and the CPI(M), on the same page on the Election

Best of BS Opinion: Don't hang the ECI just yet, make it work efficiently

From electoral-roll revisions and Telangana politics to institutional trust and the business of spirituality, today's opinions examine governance, political strategy and consumer communities

Don't hang the ECI just yet

Before deciding that the Election Commission of India has been unfair to the Opposition, we need to enable it to work efficiently and transparently

SC plea seeks criminal prosecution of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over SIR decisions

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking criminal prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged violations of statutory duties in connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The plea filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi through advocate Chand Qureshi seeks that decisions, guidelines and software modifications allegedly undertaken by Kumar without the concurrence of the two election commissioners be declared unconstitutional and void. It also seeks a declaration that all such decisions relating to the SIR are illegal and restoration of the original Form 6. It further seeks an inquiry by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged deletion of around 13 crore voters from electoral rolls during the revision exercise. The petitioner has sought criminal prosecution of Kumar, Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg and Seema Khanna, IT head of the Election Commission (EC), alleging violation of their statut

Dipke urges opposition parties to stop participating in 'rigged' elections

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke on Friday urged opposition parties to stop participating in elections if they believe the electoral process is being rigged, saying their continued participation only legitimises such polls and creates an "illusion" that they are free and fair. In a post on X, Dipke said opposition parties could not simultaneously claim that elections were being rigged and continue to contest them. "Yes, elections are being rigged. But when you continue to participate in rigged elections, you legitimise these elections and help maintain the illusion that they are free and fair," he said. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder questioned whether opposition parties continued to participate because they feared that staying away from elections would lead to their political extinction. "Maybe you keep contesting because you fear that if you don't, you will stop existing. But what kind of existence are you trying to protect when votes are being stolen, your MLAs and MPs are be

Will hold protests if CEC Kumar doesn't resign in 48 hrs: CJP's Dipke

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke demanded the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, saying that Jantar Mantar 2.0 will definitely happen if Kumar does not resign

ECI says decisions unanimous after report flags Commissioners' objections

Poll panel says internal notes and differing views are part of routine deliberations, while final decisions, including electoral roll revision measures, were unanimous

'Remove Gyanesh Kumar': Opposition after report flags major rift in ECI

Opposition parties slammed CEC Gyanesh Kumar after an investigation by The Indian Express claimed there is a major rift within the poll panel over decisions related to SIR and electoral rolls

LK Advani, Jaishankar get notices over voter discrepancies in Delhi SIR

Former deputy prime minister LK Advani, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar and Election Commissioner S S Sandhu are among the many prominent figures in the list of voters who have been issued notices for "discrepancies" in their details furnished under the SIR exercise, officials said on Sunday. After the publication of draft rolls of over 97 lakh voters under the SIR, 33.13 lakh notices were being issued over "discrepancies" in details furnished by people in their enumeration forms. Most notices were issued for voter details not matching with the information in the last SIR in 2002. In a statement issued late Sunday evening, the office of the electoral registration officer (ERO) of the New Delhi assembly constituency said Sandhu's details have been validated and his name will be included in the final electoral roll after verification of the documents submitted by him. "The electoral entry pertaining to S S Sandhu, Election Commissioner of

Delhi SIR: CEO publishes data with reasons for voter discrepancy notices

New booth-wise disclosure identifies unmapped electors and specific mismatches in self and parent names, offering greater detail than the earlier aggregate figures of 3.313 million notices

Delhi SIR: SC to hear plea against voter name deletions on Sep 21

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on September 21 a plea against deletion of names from the electoral roll under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Delhi. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said it will hear the matter on Monday as other matters related to SIR exercises are also listed next week. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that out of the 47 lakh people whose names have been deleted from the electoral roll in Delhi, the poll panel has issued notice to 33 lakh people. "What they have done is that they have not disclosed the names of people who have been issued notices or on what grounds they have been deleted. They have not disclosed which people notice has been issued to. What are the logical discrepancies and how are they unmapped," Bhushan submitted. On August 31, the Election Commission published a draft electoral roll under which 47 lakh voters were deleted from the list

Migration drives 70% of SIR deletions, northern states hit hardest

Exclusions also disproportionately affect women in 11 states. Jayant Pankaj analyses the findings of the exercise

Delhi SIR 2026 draft: 13 constituencies had over 40% electors not included

As many as 13 of Delhi's 70 Assembly constituencies saw more than 40% of electors not included in the SIR 2026 draft. Tughlakabad recorded the highest share at 47.8%, followed by Okhla at 45.2%

Delhi draft electoral roll excludes 4.77 mn names, claims open till Sep 30

Delhi's draft electoral roll was published Monday, with 47.7 lakh electors out of 1.45 crore of the city's voters excluded. Delhi chief electoral officer said those excluded can file their claims till September 30 through Form 6 and supporting documents. The final roll is due November 4. Claims and objections will be examined, and the notice and disposal process will be on till October 29, according to the revised Election Commission schedule. The draft roll contains around 97.5 lakh electors whose enumeration forms were received and digitised under the Special Intensive Revision through a house-to-house exercise, which began on June 30 and ended on August 17. Forms of around 67.18 per cent of Delhi's 1,45,10,299 electors were digitised during the process. The remaining 47.7 lakh electors were categorised as "uncollectable" under Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Others (ASDDO) and do not figure in the draft roll. The extent of digitisation varied considerably across the city'

Odisha SIR: Decision on claims by Sep 17, final voter list on Sep 21

The final decision on claims and objections submitted during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Odisha will be taken by September 17, and the voter list will be published on September 21, an official statement said. The deadline for filing claims and objections for registration and revision ended on Wednesday, they said. A statement issued by the office of Odisha's chief electoral officer (CEO) said the final decision on all claims and objections will be taken by September 17 and the final voter list will be published on September 21. The CEO said that till August 19, notices have been issued to 58.36 lakh people. "Till now, a total of 3.09 crore eligible voters in the state have been considered for inclusion in the final voter list," it said, adding that the number may further increase as the hearing process is ongoing. Officials made it clear that the electors to whom notices have been issued but have been unable to submit the required valid certificate

Manipur shuts schools, colleges for 3 days amid NRC delimitation protest

The Manipur government on Wednesday announced that all educational institutes in the state would remain closed for three days from August 20, citing the "prevailing law-and-order situation". Protesters burnt effigies of politicians and took out rallies in different parts of Manipur's valley districts on the second day of the 48-hour general strike called by the Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation (JFD) to press for updation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) before the Census exercise is conducted in the state. The JFD has also announced a boycott of all government offices from Thursday as part of its ongoing agitation.. An order by the state Education Department said, "In view of the prevailing law-and-order situation in the state, the Governor of Manipur declare the closure of all schools as may be affiliated to the Board of Secondary Education, the Council of Higher Secondary Education, the Central Board of Secondary Education or otherwise; colleges and higher educati

Successful SIR in Bihar led to record turnout in 2025 Assembly polls: CEC

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday asserted that the "successful" Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar last year had led to a significant rise in voter turnout in the assembly polls that followed. Speaking to reporters at Patna airport, the CEC, who is on a two-day tour of the state, said the voting percentage in the 2025 Bihar assembly polls was higher than turnouts witnessed in advanced countries such as the US, the UK and France. "Bihar is the land where Vaishali, the cradle of democracy, is situated. We take pride in the fact that the SIR was conducted here successfully for the first time," Kumar said. The CEC pointed out that following the mammoth exercise, conducted over a three-month period during which around 70 lakh names were knocked off the electoral rolls, a sharp rise was seen in the voter turnout when assembly polls which were held soon afterwards. "As you all know, men and women came out in large numbers to vote and the

Delhi SIR: Over 7.5 million voter forms digitised, 52% electorate covered

More than 75 lakh enumeration forms have been digitised under Delhi's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with over 52 per cent of the electorate covered, according to the official data released on Tuesday. The Election Commission's latest status report showed that 75,72,315 enumeration forms had been digitised, accounting for 52.19 per cent of Delhi's 1,45,10,298 electors. Enumeration forms have been distributed to 1,44,92,544 voters, or 99.88 per cent of the electorate. Among the 13 districts, Outer North leads the digitisation drive with 64.34 per cent of forms uploaded, followed by South West (62.45 per cent), West (59.46 per cent), North West (58.53 per cent) and Central North (56.72 per cent). South East recorded the lowest digitisation at 38.51 per cent, followed by East (43.57 per cent), South (45.11 per cent), Central (48.41 per cent) and Old Delhi (48.51 per cent). In absolute numbers, North East has digitised the highest number of forms at 10,13,554, ...

Delhi SIR: Digitisation crosses 6.6 million, covers over 45% of electors

Digitisation of enumeration forms under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Delhi's electoral rolls crossed the 66-lakh mark on Saturday, while the door-to-door distribution exercise was virtually complete, with nearly all electors having received enumeration forms. According to the Chief Electoral Officer's status report, 66,06,924 enumeration forms have been digitised, covering 45.53 per cent of Delhi's 1,45,10,298 electors. Outer North continued to lead all districts in digitisation with 59.36 per cent of forms uploaded, followed by South West (55.67 per cent), North West (52.29 per cent), North Delhi (51.94 per cent) and Central North (50.60 per cent). At the other end, South East recorded the lowest digitisation at 31.94 per cent, followed by East (37.50 per cent) and South (38.88 per cent). The distribution of enumeration forms also edged closer to completion, with 1,44,89,074 forms distributed, covering 99.85 per cent of Delhi's electorate. Eight districts - South East,