Trouble mounts for CEC Gyanesh Kumar? Maharashtra CEO claims to have flagged concerns over SIR

Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam has sought five changes to the Election Commission’s ECINet platform to give local election officials more flexibility while handling voter records during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

Updated : Sep 29, 2026, 02:02 PM IST

Fresh concerns have emerged over the Election Commission’s handling of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S Chockalingam seeking changes to the poll panel’s ECINet software.

In a letter dated September 24 to senior Election Commission (EC) officials, Chockalingam proposed five changes to the platform, arguing that local election officials should have greater freedom to exercise powers already available to them under election law.

The development comes amid a growing row over differences within the Election Commission. According to The Indian Express , Chockalingam’s concerns echo those raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, who reportedly objected to several decisions and processes linked to the SIR exercise.

What changes has the Maharashtra CEO demanded?

One of Chockalingam’s key demands is to allow Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to exempt voters from personal hearings if they have submitted valid and satisfactory documents. EROs are responsible for preparing electoral rolls, examining claims and objections, and deciding whether names should be added to or removed from voter lists.

The Maharashtra CEO has also sought permission for voters to submit documents beyond the 13 types mentioned in SIR notices. According to The Indian Express, he pointed out that people from tribal, homeless and sex-worker communities may not have documents included in the existing list.

Another demand is to allow EROs to decide certain cases involving “logical discrepancies” themselves when they are satisfied with the evidence, instead of referring them to district-level officials.

A logical discrepancy is a mismatch flagged by the system. It does not automatically mean that a person is ineligible to vote.

Chockalingam has also asked the EC to make uploading an “Extract of Last SIR” optional in such cases, since the system has already identified the mismatch using the previous electoral roll.

He further sought FAQs and written instructions for EROs, saying officials had a “number of queries” about the process. He argued that oral instructions from the EC or the CEO were not enough. The proposed guidelines should cover notices, document submission, hearings and the disposal of cases.

What has the Election Commission decided?

Following a full commission meeting on September 26, the EC announced some changes to the SIR process.

It decided that voters flagged for logical discrepancies would not have to appear in person for hearings in such cases. Booth Level Officers (BLOs) can instead collect documents from their homes and upload them to ECINet.

The commission also said field officers would be given greater flexibility wherever required, The Indian Express reported.

The EC has further decided to review ECINet through a committee headed by a senior Deputy Election Commissioner. The panel will include an independent expert from an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) or an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT).

Launched on January 22, ECINet serves as the Election Commission’s central digital platform for managing electoral rolls and other election-related work. It brings more than 40 applications and portals under one system.

An investigation by The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sandhu and Joshi had raised concerns about the centralisation of electoral-roll data and the limited access available to state-level officials.

One issue highlighted in the report was that state officials could have the legal authority to make a decision but lack the corresponding option in the software to record it.

Chockalingam’s letter raises a similar concern: powers granted to EROs under election law may not always have matching options on ECINet.

Dissent row puts Election Commission under scrutiny

The Maharashtra CEO’s letter comes days after The Indian Express reported that Sandhu and Joshi had formally objected at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and processes related to the SIR and electoral rolls.

Their reported concerns included changes to Form 6, which is used for new voter registration, the deletion and restoration of names, appeals against decisions restoring voters, and the centralisation of electoral-roll data.

The Election Commission, responding to the report, said “differing views” were a normal part of its deliberations. It maintained that decisions related to the SIR had been taken unanimously.

Maharashtra is currently in the notice phase of the SIR exercise, which aims to identify and remove ineligible entries from electoral rolls.

The state’s draft electoral roll, published on August 31, had 21.1 per cent fewer electors than the previous roll. The final roll is scheduled to be published on November 16.

The SIR exercise began in June 2025 and has so far led to more than 13 crore names being deleted from draft electoral rolls across 30 states and Union Territories, according to the supplied report.