IndiaPosted at: Sep 27 2026 9:45PM


Jairam Ramesh calls ECI’s SIR measures ‘damage control’, questions voter deletions & ECINet

New Delhi, Sep 27 (UNI) Congress general secretary (Communications) and Member of Parliament Jairam Ramesh on Sunday accused the Election Commission of attempting “damage control” through the measures announced on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that the poll panel had failed to answer fundamental questions over voter deletions, the functioning of its ECINet software and the use of artificial intelligence in electoral-roll preparation.
Reacting to the Election Commission’s September 26 press note, Ramesh said the claims made by the poll panel had already been exposed and described the statement as “a desperate attempt at damage control” that sought to conceal rather than answer the questions being raised over the SIR exercise.
The Election Commission, after a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and attended by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, announced several measures aimed at easing the SIR process.
It said Booth Level Officers (BLOs) would visit the homes of people who had received notices over unmapped entries or logical discrepancies, collect the required documents and upload them on ECINet for consideration by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO). Such persons, the Commission said, would generally not be required to appear personally before an ERO or Assistant Electoral Registration Officer, with hearings to be held only in exceptional circumstances and preferably online.
Ramesh, however, said the measures amounted to an admission that the SIR exercise had failed to achieve its stated objectives.
“The measures proposed regarding SIR are an admission that the entire process has been a massive failure,” he said, arguing that “small, piecemeal measures” would not adequately address what he described as a crisis of large-scale disenfranchisement.
He questioned the decision to undertake another round of house-to-house verification for the 5.43 crore voters whom the Congress says are at risk of deletion.
According to Ramesh, such verification was supposed to have been carried out during the original house-to-house enumeration exercise, which he alleged had been limited and uneven.
“What is the point of promising a second round of house-to-house visits, when there is every possibility that these visits will not happen either?” he asked.
The Election Commission has said the new arrangement is intended to make the process easier for noticees, particularly those who may face difficulties in appearing before officials. It has also directed District Election Officers to establish help desks and hold special camps for people living in night shelters, labourers, poor people and homeless citizens.
Ramesh also questioned the continuation of the SIR exercise itself, asking, “What is the point of this SIR process at all, which has become a massive wastage of public resources and a cause of harassment for every citizen?”
On voters whose names have already been left out of the rolls, Ramesh said the Commission's position effectively placed the burden of restoration on citizens.
“First, disenfranchise voters on a massive scale, and then tell them to get their names added again,” he said.
The Election Commission has said that anyone whose name has been left out during SIR and who seeks inclusion can apply to the concerned ERO, while the Chief Electoral Officer, District Election Officer and ERO would launch special drives to facilitate enrolment.
Ramesh claimed that nearly 14 crore voters had been deleted during the first three phases of SIR and alleged that voters from marginalised sections were being selectively removed in a manner that could benefit the BJP.
He said the Election Commission had not adequately addressed the allegation. The claim is part of the broader political dispute between the Congress and the poll panel over the conduct and impact of SIR.
A central element of Ramesh’s criticism was ECINet, the Election Commission’s unified digital platform for electoral services. The Commission said on September 26 that field officers had role-based access to ECINet according to their statutory powers and announced a committee headed by a Senior Deputy Election Commissioner, with an independent expert from an IIT or IIIT, to review whether the system complied with the relevant laws and rules.
It also said future initiatives involving IT modules and portals would be discussed by a Committee of Officers before being placed before the Commission.
Ramesh argued that the decision to review ECINet itself raised questions about its legal compliance.
“The Election Commission has proposed to set up a committee to certify that this software is ‘in accordance with laws and rules’. This in itself is an admission that its legality is under a cloud of doubt,” he said.
He alleged that ECINet had been used in the deletion of eligible voters and that the statutory powers of EROs had been bypassed.
He demanded clarity on whether similar issues had arisen outside Goa, where concerns over the functioning of the system had surfaced, and specifically asked what had happened in West Bengal and other states.
Ramesh also demanded an explicit clarification that, under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, EROs would remain the final authority over electoral rolls.
He questioned the transparency surrounding those operating ECINet and referred to reports concerning Tata Consultancy Services, asking why details of the entities involved in the system had not been disclosed earlier.
The Election Commission had launched ECINet as a unified digital platform for election-related information and services, saying the platform had been developed in compliance with the Constitution, the Representation of the People Acts and other applicable electoral laws and rules. The Commission has said the platform has been used to process registration forms and digitise documents during SIR.
Ramesh also challenged the Election Commission’s clarification concerning a letter sent to the Cabinet Secretary amid concerns over the functioning of its IT division. The Commission has said the letter concerned the functioning of an officer posted on deputation and was not related to any policy matter of its IT division. It also maintained that oversight of the IT division by the Deputy Election Commissioner had not been withdrawn.
Ramesh rejected that explanation, arguing that the letter followed an order concerning oversight of the IT division and was linked to what he described as repeated concerns over its non-transparent and non-rule-compliant functioning.
He said the central question was whether ECINet had bypassed “statutory security provisions”, which he maintained remained unresolved.
The Congress leader also raised concerns over the use of artificial intelligence in the preparation of electoral rolls, describing the lack of transparency on the issue as “dangerous”.
He referred to the controversy surrounding SIR in Delhi and the statement that some notices were “system-generated”.
He also cited an earlier statement attributed to the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer regarding the use of AI and contrasted it with the Election Commission’s reported communication to UN Special Rapporteurs in July 2026 that “Artificial Intelligence is not used at any stage.”
Ramesh demanded full transparency about whether and how AI systems were being used in SIR and argued that the use of such technology in a process determining citizens’ voting rights required close scrutiny.
“The Election Commission must maintain full transparency regarding the use of AI,” he said.
The Election Commission, for its part, has maintained that its decisions relating to SIR were taken with the unanimous approval of all three Election Commissioners. In its September 26 statement, the Commission said the original SIR order and subsequent schedules had received unanimous approval and also announced procedural changes intended to facilitate voters and reduce the need for personal hearings. It extended the deadline for filing claims and objections in Delhi to October 30.
The Commission’s latest measures came amid mounting political and institutional scrutiny of SIR, ECINet and the management of electoral-roll data. The September 26 decisions included an ECINet review, doorstep collection of documents from SIR noticees, greater use of online hearings and extensions to certain deadlines.
Ramesh, however, maintained that the measures did not resolve the central questions raised by the Congress over voter deletions, the authority of EROs, the functioning of ECINet, the transparency of the Election Commission’s IT systems and the use of AI.
He said the latest press note had failed to answer those questions and instead left the Congress with further concerns about the transparency and conduct of the electoral-roll revision exercise.
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