Overview
- Reporters revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally registered repeated objections to SIR decisions, a dispute said to have occurred on at least 14 occasions over ten months.
- The Congress on Tuesday adopted a resolution demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s removal, suspension of the SIR and restoration of about 13.3 crore names removed from rolls, and it is preparing parliamentary removal notices.
- Opposition parties and civil-society groups have planned nationwide street actions, including a 'jail bharo' protest on October 2 and a Mumbai morcha on October 4, while some local police have denied permissions for specific venues.
- The Election Commission says its orders carry legal sanction and that differing views are normal, but critics cite centralisation via the ECI-Net platform, changes to Form 6 that shift the burden onto voters, and an open legal critique by former Home Secretary R.K. Singh alleging statutory breaches.
- Petitions challenging the SIR and the CEC’s conduct are set for Supreme Court review next week, a development that could decide whether deletions stand, trigger roll restoration, or prompt wider scrutiny of the 2023 law that changed how commissioners are appointed.