The Congress on Saturday levelled fresh allegations against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of creating hurdles for first-time, Gen Z voters.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Election Commission of India (ECI) had made it harder for young voters to register by introducing a new requirement in Form 6, the application form used to seek inclusion in the electoral roll. The Delhi election office has announced special voter-enrolment camps at colleges, universities and other educational institutions across the city on September 29 and 30. The camps will facilitate enrolment of young voters under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) 2026.
“A new mandatory section was added, asking whether your parents/grandparents were included in the previous SIR—this created a new hurdle for first-time Gen Z voters. This change is completely illegal,” Ramesh wrote on X. Ramesh also questioned the ECI decision to hold special voter-enrolment camps for young voters in Delhi. He alleged that the online form was altered in July without an official notification and questioned the Election Commission’s authority to make changes to the statutory form.
“Late last night, the panicked Election Commission directed officials to set up special enrollment camps for young voters and conduct their “extensive promotion” through social media,” Ramesh said.
The party’s remarks came a day after it held nationwide protests seeking Kumar’s removal. The protests followed an Indian Express report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders they said were issued without their knowledge.
