The Opposition has alleged that the lack of transparency around the software used to flag errors and anomalies in voter rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has raised several questions for the Election Commission (EC) and dented public trust in the entire process.
“The ECINET software and the IT Division of the ECI were the focus of several objections raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. The complaints even reached the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which comes under the Prime Minister himself. The public knows that massive manipulation has taken place. Gyanesh Kumar must go.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Sunday alleged that the poll body’s refusal to share details on the ECINET software “reveals the reality of the massive, centralised manipulation that has taken place”. Party leader Pawan Khera hit out at Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar for “blocking transparency” in the electoral process. The Congress leader said “the lack of transparency around the ECINET software and the use of AI has damaged the credibility of the entire process among citizens”. “The ECI is repeatedly refusing to provide this information because it will reveal the reality of the massive, centralised manipulation that has taken place,” he added. The SIR must be suspended forthwith,” he said.
The three opposition leaders made the remarks while referring to an HT report that the EC has declined to disclose the name and version of the software it used to identify errors and anomalies in voter rolls during the SIR exercise. “The Election Commission of India continues to hide information about the controversial ECINET software at the heart of the disastrous SIR, that has been used to centralise manipulation of the electoral rolls.
The poll body has claimed the information relates to “commercial confidence, trade secrets and intellectual property” and is exempt under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Using flimsy excuses, the ECI has refused to name the software being used in the SIR, or confirm whether AI is being used and what safeguards are in place,” Ramesh said on X as he shared the HT report. Today, a leading national daily revealed that the ECI has refused to provide information on the software being used in the SIR in its response to a Right to Information (RTI) application.
