The Election Commission of India, once projected as a monolith of unanimity, is showing cracks from within. An Indian Express investigation reveals that in just 10 months, Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record 14 times to steps taken by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The dissent is not procedural trivia. It strikes at four pillars of electoral integrity: the definition of a "new voter" in Form 6, who can access the electoral roll database, the abrupt de-centralization of West Bengal's electoral rolls, and the opacity around the IT system ERONet.
The flashpoint was Form 6. In July, the Commission centralized the voter registration portal. The two ECs noted that Form 6 was being processed without statutory backing and that rules were being amended without consulting the Commission. On August 16, Sandhu wrote that the rollout must be "legally sustainable."
More damning is the ERONet control. The Commission's IT division - which manages the voter database - was overruled. Officers were told all communications in ERONet's name needed the CEC's approval. The two Commissioners flagged this as a violation of the EC's own 1997 transaction of business rules that mandate decisions by "unanimous decision."
For three occasions, they even knocked on the Cabinet Secretary's door, warning that ERONet changes were being made with "any action and justification" and workload allocation was opaque. The government, meanwhile, notified changes to the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 on the poll panel's proposal — a proposal the two Commissioners say they never approved.
The Supreme Court has now said an independent ECI is not enough, it must also appear to be so. These 14 notes prove that appearance is failing.