India’s Opposition turns up heat on EC, demands fresh elections

India’s Opposition has stepped up its attack on the Election Commission, with several major leaders demanding fresh elections and an investigation into the poll panel following reports of internal objections over the revision of electoral rolls.

The demands came after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions taken in the name of the commission. The report triggered a broad Opposition campaign against the poll panel, according to The Telegraph.

Former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee called for fresh Assembly elections in the state using the voter list prepared before the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). She also demanded the arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the BJP and the Election Commission had undermined the electoral process.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray called for the recently held elections in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu to be annulled and repolls conducted using ballot papers. He also demanded Kumar’s removal and arrest, citing the reported objections by the two election commissioners.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav questioned the credibility of elections conducted during the SIR exercise and alleged that voters supporting his party had been systematically removed from electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh. He called for the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the reported objections and questioned whether citizens could continue to trust the poll panel.

DMK president M.K. Stalin meanwhile demanded that the SIR exercise be halted in Tamil Nadu and called for a probe into the Election Commission’s functioning.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also sharply criticised the poll panel. In a video posted on X, he accused the Election Commission of wrongdoing and described it as “treason” and “against the country”. In the accompanying post, Gandhi alleged that “vote chori” was a crime against Indian citizens and a direct attack on the Constitution.

The reported disagreements within the Election Commission reportedly involved issues including changes to Form 6, centralisation of ERONet controls in Delhi, appeals against voter deletions in West Bengal and the failure to add some eligible voters to electoral rolls in Goa.

However, the Election Commission has rejected suggestions of a split within the three-member panel. It said decisions concerning the SIR and other matters were taken unanimously with the approval of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

The Opposition’s demands now extend across West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Bihar, while the controversy over electoral-roll revision has added to wider questions raised by Opposition parties about the conduct and credibility of India’s electoral process.