Indian Express Expose of the functioning of ECI: Way Forward
The Indian Express investigation (published around 23 September 2026, primarily by Ritika Chopra) exposed significant internal dysfunction and unilateral decision-making within the Election Commission of India (ECI) during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. It revealed that two of the three Election Commissioners—Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi—formally objected on record at least 14 times over 10 months (October 2025–August 2026) to decisions taken in the ECI’s name, often without their knowledge or against their advice. Many objections were copied to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar Gupta. This is indeed an unprecedented rupture inside the constitutional body responsible for free and fair elections. The ECI’s public response framed differing views as normal internal deliberation and claimed most decisions were unanimous, but it did not fully address the specific objections or provide detailed rebuttals to the reported documents. Key Finding...