‘Shaken faith’: Why are India’s elections under unprecedented scrutiny?

An investigation by The Indian Express has exposed internal discord at India’s Election Commission over a state-by-state revision of the electoral roll, including claims that the commission’s chief, Gyanesh Kumar, often overruled the concerns of his two colleagues. Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi are reported to have questioned the legality of measures taken unilaterally and registered formal objections at least 14 times in the past ten months. Since June of last year the commission has carried out a Special Intensive Revision of the voters list, removing more than 13 million names. Critics — including opposition parties and civil society groups — say the process places heavy documentary burdens on voters and has disproportionately affected poorer, migrant and minority communities, potentially disenfranchising tens of millions of people. The commission has defended the process as secure and decentralized, saying local officers make judgments even in remote areas. The investigation, however, found that the commission relied increasingly on ECINet, a centralised digital platform that logs nearly a billion voter records and concentrated editing access in New Delhi. Officials in states such as Goa reportedly flagged erroneous deletions but were unable to secure timely edits before deadlines. Opposition parties challenged the revision in India’s top court, which largely approved the process. The disclosures have amplified long-running concerns from opposition leaders and some former election officials about whether voter eligibility decisions are being made impartially, and have prompted unusually public questioning of an institution that had long been widely respected for managing elections in a country of more than 1.4 billion people.