Kapil Sibal, a senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha member, called on the Election Commission to file a defamation case after The Indian Express reported that two commissioners had opposed certain actions of the Gyanesh Kumar‑led panel. He said the report, which alleged a centralised deletion of voters, was "inconsistent with the record" and that the EC should take legal action if the claims were false.
Sibal pointed to the 97 voters in Goa who were barred from re‑entry into the voter rolls following a contentious Special Intensive Revision. He accused the EC of centralising data and of deleting votes without proper oversight, a claim that echoes earlier complaints about West Bengal where 91‑94% of votes were allegedly wrongly removed.
The Election Commission issued a press note on 24 September framing the objections as mere disagreements within a democratic decision‑making process. In its latest clarification, it admitted that 81 of the 97 disputed voters had been re‑included but did not address the broader concerns about data centralisation or the role of the ECINET portal.
Sibal demanded that the EC establish a committee to review the ECINET system and that the Supreme Court examine the files of the EC, arguing that the matter touches on constitutional obligations and the integrity of the electoral process.
The Congress and other opposition parties have called for the removal of Gyanesh Kumar and for a Supreme Court enquiry, citing the EC's handling of the Special Intensive Revision as evidence of a subversion of democracy.
The next step will be a hearing in the Supreme Court, where the opposition is expected to present evidence on the alleged voter deletions and request that the EC's records be sealed for review.