New Delhi, Oct. 26: The Election Commission of India has rejected allegations that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar took decisions in the Commission’s name without the approval of Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, asserting that its key SIR orders were unanimously approved, that it had not amended Form 6, and that in urgent matters concurrence of members could be obtained electronically and recorded on file subsequently.
In an affidavit before the Supreme Court, the ECI said the three major Special Intensive Revision orders dated June 24, 2025, October 27, 2025 and May 14, 2026 were all based on unanimous decisions of the Commission.
It also maintained that Form 6 had not been amended by the poll body, pointing out that any amendment to the statutory form could be made only by the Central government. The declaration introduced during the SIR, it said, was a separate document.
The Commission, however, acknowledged that the manner in which the declaration had appeared online could have created an impression that Form 6 itself had been modified. It said the online process had since been altered so that Form 6 and the declaration would appear separately, as in the physical format.
Explaining its internal decision-making process, the ECI said files generally move sequentially between the Election Commissioners and the CEC. Observations, suggestions or queries recorded during such circulation do not, by themselves, constitute a decision of the Commission. In urgent matters, approval can be obtained electronically and formally placed on the file later.
The affidavit itself, the Commission said, had been approved unanimously by all three members.
The ECI also questioned the maintainability of the petition, contending that it was founded substantially on a newspaper report and not on authenticated internal records. It said no internal note or file had been released or authorised for release by the Commission.
On the July 28, 2026 office order concerning internal work allocation, the ECI said the order was never implemented after both Election Commissioners issued a joint direction on July 30.
The Commission further said that no entry on ECINet could be added, deleted or altered except under an order of the Electoral Registration Officer. It also referred to a committee constituted on October 14, 2026, including independent experts from IIT Bombay and IISc Bengaluru, to examine ECINet’s compliance with the law.
On unmapped voters, the ECI said Booth Level Officers had been directed to collect documents from their homes and that personal hearings before EROs or AEROs would be required only in exceptional cases, preferably through online mode.
Pramod kumar is a Senior Journalist, Covering Supreem Court of India
