Congress rejects Election Commission’s SIR measures as inadequate
Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh has dismissed the Election Commission’s proposed steps to address concerns over the special intensive revision of electoral rolls as damage control. He said the measures failed to answer questions about deletions, ECINet, Form 6 procedures and the treatment of affected voters.
The Congress has rejected the Election Commission’s latest measures on the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, calling the announcement a “desperate attempt at damage control” that leaves key concerns unresolved. Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said the proposed steps amounted to an admission that the exercise had been a “disaster”. He argued that the measures for voters whose names had been deleted or placed at risk were piecemeal and would not prevent what he described as mass disenfranchisement.
The Election Commission has proposed visiting the homes of electors who have received notices rather than requiring them to attend public hearings. Mr. Ramesh questioned whether the visits would be effective, saying earlier visits had been sparse and sporadic.
He also questioned the value of repeating a process that, in his view, had already been poorly implemented. Mr. Ramesh said nearly 14 crore voters deleted across the three phases were now being asked to apply again for inclusion in the rolls.
He alleged that marginalised voters had been targeted to benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party, a claim presented by the Congress and not independently established in the supplied material. He also raised questions about ECINet, alleging that the software had been used to delete eligible voters and override Electoral Registration Officers. He said the Commission’s proposal to review the system’s compliance with existing laws suggested that its legality was in question, and asked whether issues reported in Goa had occurred elsewhere, including West Bengal.
The Congress leader further criticised the lack of transparency over ECINet, the use of artificial intelligence in preparing electoral rolls and a change to online Form 6. He argued that the non-SIR Form 6 route was misleading because the Special Summary Revision had remained frozen since 2024 and no non-SIR roll was being published. He said the Commission’s assurances on procedures and compliance raised troubling questions about whether established norms had been followed.
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