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COVER STORY OCTOBER 02, 2026 | The Indian Eye 5

allegations concerning Form 6 illus- The ECI’s own response that
trate the problem. internal notes and technical observa-
If the allegations are established, tions are part of normal functioning
this is not a minor software modifica- is also reasonable as far as the prin-
tion. A change in the registration pro- ciple goes. Multi-member institutions
cess can affect who is able to enter the should allow disagreement. Indeed,
electoral system and what documenta- disagreement within a constitutional
tion or information a first-time voter body is not necessarily evidence of in-
must provide. stitutional failure.
At the same time, the precise le- The crucial issue is what happens
gal status of the disputed modification, after disagreement.
and the responsibility of individual of- Are objections properly con-
ficials for it, requires examination of sidered? Are majority decisions re-
the relevant rules and records. Political corded? Are statutory procedures
claims alone cannot establish illegality. followed? Are minutes maintained?
The second major concern is tech- Is responsibility clearly documented?
nology. The traditional architecture of Can an affected citizen challenge an
electoral-roll management is decen- exclusion? Can an erroneous dele-
tralised. Electoral Registration Offi- tion be reversed? Does the digital
cers at the constituency level have stat- system preserve an auditable trail of
utory responsibilities for preparing and who changed what and under whose
maintaining voter lists. The controver- Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar (ANI Photo) authority?
sy has raised questions about whether These are questions that can be
increasing centralisation of elector- leaders has included serious accusa- The current controversy therefore answered through documentation.
al-roll data through ECINet could tions of criminal conduct and conspir- goes beyond Gyanesh Kumar. It raises The controversy has consequently
weaken that decentralised structure. acy. These are political allegations, questions about the design of India’s produced an opportunity as well as a
According to the Indian Express not established findings. election-management architecture crisis for the Election Commission. It
investigation, Joshi had raised concerns The BJP and the Election Com- in an era when voter databases are can remain a political battle, with the
about what he described as “gradu- mission have rejected the opposition’s increasingly dependent on software, opposition demanding resignation and
al centralisation” of the electoral-roll characterisation of the dispute. The centralised platforms and digital au- the ECI defending its decisions. Or
database, while Sandhu questioned ECI has insisted that its procedures thentication. it can become an institutional audit
whether state-level officials had ade- and final decisions remain lawful and The plea before the Supreme of how India’s electoral machinery is
quate access to the systems needed to unanimous. Court has sought preservation of dig- being transformed by technology and
perform their statutory responsibilities. But the more important question ital audit trails, restoration of decen- large-scale revision exercises.
This is potentially more significant is whether the mechanisms for identi- tralised access for Electoral Registra- For a constitutional body, the sec-
than the political rhetoric surrounding fying, notifying, appealing and restor- tion Officers, review of disputed Form ond route matters more.
SIR. ing voters are transparent, accessible 6 modifications and an independent The credibility of an election
Digital systems can make election and subject to independent scrutiny. judicial inquiry or SIT involving retired commission ultimately rests not on
administration faster and more effi- This is where the ECI faces its judicial and technical experts. These the absence of disagreement but on
cient. But they can also concentrate biggest institutional challenge. An are requests at the pleading stage, not the visibility of the rules governing
control. If an Electoral Registration election commission does not merely judicial findings. disagreement. It rests on the ability of
Officer determines that a person quali- administer polling day. Its credibility But the underlying principle is citizens to know how their names enter
fies for inclusion but cannot technically begins much earlier, with the electoral sound as an institutional question: the electoral roll, how they can be re-
record or reverse that decision because roll. If citizens believe that the process where allegations concern both ad- moved, who makes that decision, how
the central software does not permit it, for getting on the roll, remaining on it ministrative decisions and the technol- it can be challenged and whether the
the question of accountability becomes or being removed from it is opaque, ogy through which those decisions are system can correct its own mistakes.
complicated. confidence in the election itself can implemented, independent verifica- The current row has put those
This creates a difficult institutional suffer even if voting and counting are tion can help separate genuine proce- questions squarely on the national
question: who has authority to repre- conducted flawlessly. dural problems from political claims. agenda.
sent the Commission in such proceed- The Supreme Court will have its
ings, and what internal approval is re- role in determining the legal questions
quired before the poll panel challenges raised by the new plea. Parliament
decisions that have restored voters to and political parties have their own
the rolls? institutional responsibilities. The Elec-
Again, the answer should come tion Commission, meanwhile, has the
from records and law rather than po- most immediate task: to demonstrate
litical assertion. That distinction is par- through records, procedures and trans-
ticularly important because the contro- parent processes that the machinery
versy has rapidly acquired a partisan entrusted with the country’s elections
character. remains accountable to the law.
Congress has accused the CEC of For India’s democracy, that is a
acting unilaterally and has demand- question considerably larger than the
ed his resignation. Party leaders have fate of any one CEC.
held protests across several states, It is ultimately about whether the
while some have made allegations of Cockroach Janta Party Founder Abhijeet Dipke addresses a press conference alleging the institution that determines who gets to
voter disenfranchisement and collu- Election Commission is stealing votes and demanding the resignation of the ECI Chief within 48 vote can command confidence from
sion with the government. The lan- hours, in New Delhi on Thursday (ANI Photo/ Ritik Sharma) both those who win elections and those
guage used by individual opposition who lose them.

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