When Gyanesh Kumar took charge as India’s 26th chief election commissioner (CEC) in February 2025, his work on the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and setting up the Ram temple trust featured prominently in accounts of his career.
Nineteen months later, he faces perhaps his sharpest challenge at the poll panel — objections from both his fellow election commissioners to decisions made during the contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists.
Neither Sandhu nor Joshi has publicly spoken about the objections attributed to them. The disclosures have intensified scrutiny of Kumar’s tenure as the CEC. Opposition parties have accused the EC of excluding eligible voters during the SIR and favouring the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), allegations the poll panel has rejected. Kumar’s appointment as the CEC had itself drawn criticism from the opposition. Gandhi, its sole opposition member, sought a delay in the selection until the Supreme Court had heard petitions challenging the law.
Election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions and orders they said were issued without their knowledge, according to an Indian Express investigation. The objections included changes to the statutory voter registration Form 6 and centralised control over the electoral roll database. He was the first person chosen for the post under a 2023 law that replaced the chief justice of India on the selection panel with a Union Cabinet minister, giving the government two members on the three-member panel.
The Election Commission (EC) has said differing views are a normal part of deliberations and that its final decisions, including those concerning the SIR, were unanimous. Earlier, Kumar’s response to Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s “vote chori” charge also drew criticism after he asked the Congress leader to substantiate it with a sworn declaration or apologise.
