Left parties on Wednesday labelled the Election Commission as “one-man autocracy” following a report that said two Election Commissioners had objected to decisions concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The CPI(M) Politburo issued a statement demanding an immediate halt to the ongoing SIR exercise, saying that revelations about internal dissent had cast a dark shadow over the credibility of the process.
The Left parties also said that reports of dissenting notes being sidelined over the addition, deletion and modification of voter records undermined the constitutional integrity of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
CPI(M) MP John Brittas said the developments showed that the Election Commission was no longer functioning as a three-member body and described it as “one-man autocracy” under Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
“Two Election Commissioners have formally objected 14 times in 10 months. They branded the addition of new voters and mass deletions as ‘unauthorised and illegal’. They recorded objections to secret deletions, restorations and Form 6 changes that harass young first-time voters — all while being kept in the dark,” he said.
Brittas alleged that this amounted to “the open subversion of EC and our democracy too”.
“Parliament must immediately start the process for the removal of the CEC. We had, in fact, submitted a notice for his removal on April 24, 2026, as per the constitutional provisions, with solid grounds and around 70 members signing it — 50 being the stipulated number,” he said.
He said the Constitution provides for the removal of the CEC for “precisely such moments of institutional capture and subversion”.
“The Supreme Court must annul the entire SIR process without delay. When two of the three Commissioners put on record that the exercise is illegal and destructive of the integrity of the electoral rolls, judicial silence becomes complicity,” Brittas said.
“What Kumar is doing is the death knell of a democratic nation,” he said.
CPI(M) General Secretary MA Baby said CEC Kumar had no right to continue in office.
“There are three members in the Election Commission. Every decision has to be taken either unanimously or on the basis of a majority. Now, he has been ignoring the views of the two members, his colleagues, and imposing his own view. It is illegal. It is undemocratic. It is authoritarian. Therefore, he has no right to continue as the Chief Election Commissioner,” he said at an event.
“If he does not resign, the government should remove him. This is the demand of the CPI(M),” Baby said.
He also demanded an immediate halt to the ongoing revision of electoral rolls until all political stakeholders had been consulted.
“The full form of SIR is ‘Special Intensive Revision’. I would say that it is ‘Special Intensive Removal’ from the voters’ list. This is what is happening. We demand that it should be halted. It should be re-examined only after consulting all national political parties, and what to do next should be decided then,” he added.
A media report stated that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on at least 14 occasions over a period of 10 months concerning SIR-related decisions and orders.
In response, EC said all official orders had full legal sanction under Article 324 and followed established statutory procedures.
The commission described internal notes, queries and differing observations during the drafting stage as normal processes within a multi-member constitutional body aimed at safeguarding voter rights and improving electoral procedures, rather than evidence of institutional discord.
EC also criticised the media report as a selective portrayal that ignored the broader consensus, emphasising that major decisions and nationwide electoral-roll revisions, including the SIR, had been unanimously approved by the full commission.
