India’s chief election Commissioner is currently at the centre of public debate and facing strong backlash after reports published by the Indian Express, a leading Journalism Organisation and newspaper.
According to the newspaper reports published by the Indian Express, on September 23, 2026, the Election Commission OF India namely Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, who are the other two election commissioners of India having the same powers and functions as Gyanesh Kumar, have reportedly raised objections regarding the decisions taken by Gyanesh Kumar regarding the current Special Intensive Revision (SIR) procedure.
Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com
What are the Concerns and Objections Raised?
1. Access and control over the electoral roll database.
2. Deletion and restoration of voter names
3. Appeals relating to voter-roll decisions in the state of West Bengal.
4. The major technical issues in the electoral roll procedures in the state of Goa.
5. Changes to Form-6 used for the new voter registration.
6. Major software and technical issues reflected in the voter roll updation.
These unanimous and arbitrary decisions have led to the huge controversy around the current Special Intensive Revision (SIR) procedure and the extraordinary powers used by the Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, regarding which the objection was duly raised by the other 2 Election Commissioners over such procedures.
What is SIR?
Special Intensive Revision is an exercise which is currently being done in India and is done with the intent to create a voter data bank for recognising the new voters, deleting the old voters or the duplicate voters and preparing a fresh electoral roll for the purpose of free and fair elections.
The current controversy is revolving around the allegations that the SIR is currently deleting the existing voters and the appeals filed are not considered in various states.
The ECI’s take?
The Election Commission of India has acknowledged the problems and has marked these procedures as part of normal deliberative procedure. The final decision, however, was taken unanimously, and the individual observations cannot be treated as separate decisions of the same body.
Source : https://www.newindianexpress.com
The Role of Cockroach Janta Party in this Protest
The Cockroach Janta Party has shifted their focus on the Illegal activities done by the Election Commission in India with respect to the voter manipulation in the Current SIR process.
The party has come up with few demands with respect to the irregularities, which are :
1. First being the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar, current Election Commissioner of India.
2. Second, to freeze the current SIR and to roll back to the SIR of January 2025
3. Third, to establish an independent enquiry to examine the discrepancies in the current procedure.
Why does it matter?
The Election Commission of India is a constitutional authority, and questions about its functioning, procedures, electoral roll preparation, voter deletion, and overall procedural processes directly hamper the country's democratic governance.
The issue is currently beyond politics and is raising concerns over transparency in government functioning and the issue of accountability of the Constitutional authorities within the country.
The controversy is ultimately about the rights of individuals and arbitrary use of power by the Government servants. The entire concept of Democracy enshrined in the Constitution of India needs to be protected and ensure the concept of free and fair elections for the purpose of systematic governance.
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