Sandhu, along with his fellow Election Commissioner Vivek Joshi, had flagged many anomalies in the ongoing SIR process across the country over the last 10 months. When notices began to be issued after the publication of the draft list during the Delhi SIR [special intensive revision], one of the names was that of Election Commissioner (EC) Sukhbir Singh Sandhu . What was considered ironical on that day and time soon became a moment of reckoning for the poll body as reports emerged that Dr.
Though rumours of a rift within the Election Commission of India had been doing the rounds for some months, what came as a surprise were the formal dissent notes written by the two ECs, including one to the Cabinet Secretary, as both had been virtually handpicked by the government under the new 2023 Law for Appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. Sandhu was appointed along with CEC Gyanesh Kumar on March 14, 2024, following the retirement of EC Anup Chandra Pandey and the abrupt resignation of EC Arun Goel, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had given a formal dissent note in the selection committee. Joshi was appointed on February 17, 2025 after Gyanesh Kumar was elevated to CEC, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi raised objection in the committee meeting. They warned as early as May that such a statutory form cannot be changed without amending the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and Dr. He 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. Sandhu also briefly served as Secretary, Lokpal of India, from February 5 to March 14, 2024, just before he was appointed as an Election Commissioner.
Because the centrally controlled software had no mechanism to record the EROs’ decisions, editorial | Deep rot: On the Election Commission of India’s functioning during its SIR They also flagged the Goa case in which 97 voters, found eligible by local Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) after a Supreme Court-mandated hearing, were left off the final roll. The Opposition Congress party had given written objections during the appointment of both in the selection committee meetings. When Dr. Later, when Mr. Both the Election Commissioners had reportedly flagged several key issues, including the centralisation of the Electoral Rolls. In May this year, Mr. In August, Dr. The Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office had written eight times seeking a rollback option. He was also Chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Additional Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development and Commissioner, Ludhiana Municipal Corporation — for which he was awarded the President’s Medal. He is also an expert on urban reforms and has authored many papers on municipal management. Dr.
Joshi proposed an audit to certify that “no one except the concerned statutory authorities has any credentials to make any change in the (voter) database”. 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. He further flagged that Election Commission Director General of IT “does not have any legal authority to restrict proper and complete access and freedom to operate as given by law to the statutory authorities”. The two ECs also said that 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 called the change “unauthorised and illegal” in August, demanding its immediate removal.
