Electoral Systems
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar uttered lies in response to the questions and deliberately evaded many of them in the press conference he addressed in the wake of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s expose of the alleged vote theft in Mahadevapura Assembly Constituency in Karnataka during the 2024 general elections.
It is worthwhile to prove by examining one of the answers of Gyanesh Kumar, in the press conference, that in the words of Ambedkar he “came under the thumb of the executive” and affirmed the apprehensions of SC: “A person (Election Commissioner), who is in a state of obligation or feels indebted to the one who appointed him, fails the nation.”
That answer was concerning Kumar’s demand for an affidavit from Rahul Gandhi with regards to the aforementioned electoral fraud and not asking such an affidavit from Anurag Thakur, Lok Sabha MP, of the ruling BJP who claimed similar allegations in multiple constituencies in several states including in Rae Bareli, UP, from where Rahul Gandhi won the election.
S.N. Sahu
20/08/2025
A post-poll survey by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies’ Lokniti programme reveals a stark drop in the percentage of voters expressing “high trust” in the EC between 2019 and 2025. EC's Credibility Under Scrutiny as Survey Shows Plummeting Trust Amid Political Firestorm - The Wire
The sharpest fall was recorded in Madhya Pradesh, where high trust plummeted from 57% to 17%. In Delhi, it fell from 60% to 21%, and in Uttar Pradesh, from 56% to 21%. Concurrently, the proportion of voters with “no trust” in the poll body nearly quadrupled in Madhya Pradesh (6% to 22%) and almost tripled in Delhi (11% to 30%).
The immediate catalyst for this confrontation is the ongoing SIR in poll-bound Bihar. The issue escalated on August 14 when the Supreme Court directed the EC to publish a detailed list of approximately 65 lakh electors excluded from the state’s draft rolls, stressing that “a high degree of transparency is required to inspire voters’ confidence”.
by Pavan Korada
18/08/2025
Investigations by The Hindu, The Reporters’ Collective, and The Wire have uncovered significant anomalies and inconsistencies in the electoral rolls, highlighting how bureaucratic hurdles disproportionately affect women and migrant workers. Many citizens struggle to meet increasingly stringent documentation requirements. 65 Lakh Deletions Later: SC Orders Disclosure, EC Cornered, Opposition Seizes the Moment - The Wire
Despite higher male migration and slightly higher male mortality in recent years, nearly 32 lakh women have been excluded from the voter rolls, compared with 25 lakh men—a discrepancy that raises urgent questions about systemic bias in the registration process.
Ironically, the one document that is nearly universally held by Indian citizens, the Aadhaar card, has not been accepted by the ECI as valid proof of identity
by Zoya Hasan
19/08/2025
In the over one-hour-long press conference, Kumar did not provide any answers to why the Election Commission (EC) is asking for an affidavit under oath from Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi over his allegations of over one lakh votes being stolen in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura assembly constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,
Kumar also did not provide any answers to questions on how many enumeration forms in Bihar had been submitted along with the requisite documents and how many foreign undocumented immigrants were found during the SIR, as well as to allegations of whether the exercise is being used to usher in the National Register of Citizens in the state.
18/08/2025
The Election Commission’s special intensive revision of the electoral rolls of Bihar has cost Katihar daily wage labourer Phool Kumari Devi two days’ worth of earnings and five kilograms of rice.
“The BLO (Booth Level officer) had asked me for my Aadhaar card and voter ID card, and a passport size photo. I had no photo so I had to travel four kilometres to a photo studio. I had no money, so I had to sell rice I had got through the public distribution system. This meant that I had to stay without food,” said Phool Kumari Devi.
She said this at a public hearing organised in Patna on July 21 by several organisations including the Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan, National Alliance of People’s Movement, Swaraj Abhiyan and Kosi Navnirman Manch.
Many people complained that they were asked for money to get their forms filled. Kanchan Devi is one of them.
The team from the Bharat Jodo Abhiyan released the outcome of a rapid survey conducted in eight districts in the first week of July.
For this, 709 people of 12 assembly segments were interviewed.
According to the survey report, voters of the 18-40 age group, who were not on the 2003 electoral rolls – an overwhelming majority of 63% – did not possess any of the 11 documents to qualify for eligibility. Most have Aadhaar and voter ID cards.
22/07/2025
- EC ‘Subjecting 2.9 Cr Voters to Rigorous Exercise to Identify Handful Illegal Immigrants’: Ex-CEC O.P. Rawat on Bihar SIR
- The Term 'Special Intensive Revision' Is Not in the EC's Rulebooks. Here's Why that's a Problem
- Bihar SIR Violates Legislative Intent of the Constituent Assembly, Ambedkar’s Vision
- Supreme Court Agrees to Urgently List Petitions Challenging EC's Bihar Rolls Revision
- The EC Has Cited 'Malicious Narratives' to Ask Officers to Destroy CCTV, Other Footage in 45 Days