India's Election Commission announced on Saturday, September 26, that a committee including an independent technology expert will review its ECINet voter-roll platform for compliance with election law. The decision followed scrutiny of how India's electoral lists are revised and whether local officers have the access needed to carry out their statutory duties. The commission met in New Delhi and said the decisions had the approval of all three members.
The review comes after an Indian Express investigation reported that election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had repeatedly raised concerns with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar about voter-list changes and the software used to manage them. The commission says differing views are part of normal deliberation and maintains that its final decisions on the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of electoral rolls were unanimous. Opposition parties have challenged the revision process, while the commission says its actions follow the law.
According to the commission's press note, a senior deputy election commissioner will lead the ECINet review, joined by an independent expert from an Indian Institute of Technology or Indian Institute of Information Technology. The panel will check the platform against applicable laws and rules and report to the commission. The commission says field officials already have access based on their legal roles and promises to add flexibility if the review identifies a need. Future technology modules will also go through an officers' committee before approval.
The commission also changed the procedure for voters notified of missing links to earlier records or other logical discrepancies during the ongoing revision. Booth-level officers will visit their homes, collect documents and upload them for the electoral registration officer to decide. Those voters generally need not travel to an election office for a hearing; exceptional hearings should preferably take place online. District officials were told to arrange help desks or camps for homeless people, workers and others who may need assistance.
For Delhi, the deadline to file claims and objections was extended to October 30, with decisions on notices and claims due by November 30. In Maharashtra, the corresponding deadlines are October 12 and November 10. The commission also said that in Goa, 81 of 97 voters left off the final list despite local eligibility decisions had submitted registration forms after officials were directed to visit them. The figures describe applications, not confirmed restorations to the roll.
The commission said it would circulate agendas before its meetings and issue minutes afterward, and it directed staff to follow instructions from all commissioners. It gave no date for the ECINet committee's report. The review's findings and the handling of outstanding voter applications will show how the announced changes work in practice, while the commission continues to defend the legality and unanimity of its earlier decisions.
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