Opposition parties on Wednesday (September 23, 2026) said Parliament should immediately begin impeachment proceedings against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar after an Indian Express expose claimed that two of the three Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, formally recorded objections at least 14 times over ten months, saying major decisions were being made in the name of the full Election Commission without their knowledge — several of which they called “unauthorised and illegal.”
ECI Sources responded by saying that “all decisions of the Election Commission of India, including SIR , have been unanimous and with the approval of both the Election Commissioners and the Chief Election Commissioner” The Goa case where 97 voters found eligible by local Electoral Registration Officers after a Supreme Court-mandated hearing were left off the final roll because the centrally-controlled software had no mechanism to record the EROs’ decision, despite the CEO’s office writing eight times seeking a rollback option was also flagged by them. “If the ostensible facts as reported by The Indian Express are correct then it seems to suggest that there is an “invisible hand” running the Election Commission. This is perhaps a fit case for serious considering an impeachment proceeding but more importantly the fundamental question is as to how will the credibility of ECI be ever resurrected,” he said in a post on X.
In August, EC Sukhbir Singh Sandhu recorded that state level election officials were reporting that they do not have proper and complete access” to the ERONet portal—the digital system through which the electoral rolls are maintained. EC Joshi had warned as early as May that such a statutory form cannot be changed without amending the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and Mr. Election Commissioner Sandhu also questioned who had authorised the Commission in West Bengal to file appeals against voters whom judicial tribunals had already included in the rolls — with 38 lakh appeals pending.
Both the Election Commissioners, red-flagged several key issues, led by the centralisation of the Electoral Rolls, according to the report. In May this year, EC Vivek Joshi proposed an audit to certify that “no one except the concerned statutory authorities has any credentials to make any change in the (voter) data base”. The two ECs said Form 6 — which new voters must fill to register— was altered to ask if the applicant or their parents/grandparents “exist” in the electoral roll of the last SIR. Sandhu had agreed calling the change “unauthorised and illegal” in August, demanding its immediate removal.
Earlier reporting noted: The clarification followed an Indian Express report that said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections to decisions taken in the commission’s name at least 14 times over 10 months. Earlier reporting noted: The reported disagreements involved changes to Form 6, the centralisation of ERONet controls in Delhi, voter deletion appeals in West Bengal and the failure to add some eligible voters to the electoral rolls in Goa.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said this directly means that all Election Commissioners are not able to perform their rightful duties. Four such objections were made on the same day, the report said. Earlier reporting noted: Election Commission sources reject report of internal disquiet: ‘SIR, all other decisions unanimous’ All decisions taken by the Election Commission (EC), including the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, had the approval of all three election commissioners, EC sources told HT on Wednesday.
