Rift within Election Commission; two commissioners record dissent 14 times in 10 months

NEW DELHI: A rift has emerged within the Election Commission over decisions taken by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with the other two members strongly opposing several of his decisions. Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have submitted written complaints alleging that several key decisions on electoral roll revisions, the addition of new voters and the deletion of names were taken without informing them and in violation of the law.

The two commissioners have recorded their dissent 14 times in the past 10 months, The Indian Express reported. They have alleged that several important orders were issued without their knowledge or consent. In some instances, dissent was recorded as many as four times in a single day.

Under Article 324 of the Constitution and the 2023 law, the Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners have equal status. The law provides that decisions of the Commission should, as far as possible, be unanimous and that in case of differences, the majority view should prevail. However, the two commissioners have complained that the Commission acted in an “unauthorised and illegal” manner by overriding their written recommendations.

The two commissioners also wrote separate letters to the Cabinet Secretary objecting to changes made in the IT oversight of the voter database. Following this, a full meeting attended by all three commissioners was held on September 9, the first such meeting in four months.