Polity

Why the Election Commission's Crisis Won't Go Away

Two Election Commissioners objected 14 times to how the CEC ran the voter roll revision. Shekhar Gupta says Modi must personally restore a wounded EC. What Article 324 and the 2023 appointments law actually allow.

Jasvin Thinks2026-10-1411 mins

On 26 September 2026, the Election Commission of India adopted nine procedural reforms after two of its three members, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, recorded at least 14 formal objections over ten months to how Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar ran the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls. On the same day, columnist Shekhar Gupta wrote in ThePrint that the government's first priority, to escape the drift that typically hits third-term governments, should be restoring respect for an Election Commission he called "wounded." The rift is unusual because it touches the electoral roll itself, the foundation every vote depends on, reviving a long-running debate on how independent India's election watchdog really is from the executive that appoints it.

What Actually Happened?

The two Commissioners' objections covered who gets registered, who gets deleted and who controls the electoral roll software. Vivek Joshi objected in May to a new question on parents added to the online Form 6. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu later called the move "unauthorised" and "illegal" on file.

The Commission's nine decisions on 26 September accepted several of these concerns. Meeting agendas will now be circulated in advance and minutes issued afterward. Officers' foreign travel needs prior Commission approval. The ECINet platform will be reviewed by a committee that includes an expert from an IIT or IIIT. The objection over the Form 6 parentage question, however, was not resolved.

On 30 September, the Bombay High Court at Goa ruled that a draft Special Intensive Revision roll cannot be the sole basis for deleting a voter's name without a hearing, holding that administrative software cannot override statutory procedure. Separately, two pleas sought recall of the Supreme Court's 23 September split opinion, alleging a judge had not disclosed that his son works as the ECI's standing counsel.

Democracy is government by the people. It is a continual participative operation, not a cataclysmic, periodic exercise.

Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, Mohinder Singh Gill v. Chief Election Commissioner, Supreme Court of India (1978)

Concept Behind the News: How Is a CEC Appointed and Removed?

Article 324 of the Constitution vests superintendence, direction and control of elections in the Election Commission. Under Article 324(5), the Chief Election Commissioner can be removed only in the same manner as a Supreme Court judge, which needs a special majority in both Houses of Parliament on grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. Other Election Commissioners, by contrast, can be removed only on the CEC's own recommendation, a sharper protection for the CEC's chair than for its other two members.

How Did We Get Here? Eight CECs Under One Government

Dissent inside the Commission is not new. Ashok Lavasa recorded dissent against Model Code of Conduct clearances in 2019. What is new, Gupta argues, is dissent reaching the electoral roll itself rather than campaign-period rulings, and surfacing at a moment he frames through a wider historical pattern: governments elected for a third consecutive term tend to drift in their third year, and the way out is usually a visible act of renewal.

1. 1969-74 Indira Gandhi split the Congress in 1969 and won a landslide in 1971, but her government lost direction again by 1974, a pattern Gupta traces across three consecutive terms.
2. 1987 Rajiv Gandhi's government, with 415 of 545 Lok Sabha seats, had visibly lost direction by its third year, well before the 1989 defeat.
3. 1993 P.V. Narasimha Rao, architect of the 1991 reforms, was being described as a "dead man walking" within his government's third year.
4. 2025 Gyanesh Kumar takes charge as the 26th CEC on 19 February, the first appointed under the 2023 law, with a term running to 26 January 2029.
5. 2026 In the third year of the government's current term, two Commissioners' objections to the CEC become public, which Gupta reads as the latest instance of a government needing to repair an institution's image rather than merely manage politics around it.

Connect the Dots

1. March 2023: The Anoop Baranwal judgment adds the Chief Justice of India to the selection panel, as an interim measure until Parliament legislates.
2. December 2023: The CEC and Other ECs Act replaces the CJI with a Union Minister nominated by the Prime Minister, so the government holds two of three votes on the selection panel.
3. February 2025: Gyanesh Kumar becomes the 26th CEC, the first appointed under the new law.
4. 2025-26: The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls runs in Bihar, West Bengal and other states; critics cite over 13 crore names removed from draft rolls.
5. September 2026: Reports show the two Commissioners' 14 objections; the EC issues nine reforms; the Supreme Court splits on referring the 2023 Act to a larger bench; the Bombay High Court rules draft rolls cannot be used to delete voters without a hearing.
6. Next: The Chief Justice decides whether to list the Anoop Baranwal reference for a larger bench, while state elections in UP, Punjab and Gujarat approach under what Gupta calls a wounded Commission.

The Debate: Is This a Legal Problem or a Political One?

But the first priority must be to restore the respect for the EC as India's most valuable institution.

Shekhar Gupta, 'Since Indira, govts drift in the 3rd year. Modi must restore EC image to get out of it', ThePrint (26 September 2026)

Why Gyanesh Kumar Cannot Easily Be Removed

Article 324(5) shields the CEC with the same removal process as a Supreme Court judge, a bar the Opposition's 73-signature Rajya Sabha notice is far short of clearing. The 2023 Act further protects the CEC and other Commissioners from prosecution for official acts. Gyanesh Kumar's term runs to January 2029, so the practical question for now is reputational management rather than removal.

What Could Happen Next?

• The Chief Justice lists the Anoop Baranwal reference soon, and a Constitution Bench revisits whether the 2023 Act's panel composition is constitutional.
• The Opposition's removal notice stays pending without the numbers to pass, used mainly as political signalling ahead of a string of state elections.
• The EC's nine reforms, including the ECINet review and pre-circulated agendas, become settled practice, which would ease tension without resolving the underlying independence question.

Why Does It Matter for India?

What Should We Watch?

• Whether the Chief Justice of India lists the Anoop Baranwal reference for a Constitution Bench.
• Whether the Rajya Sabha notice to remove Gyanesh Kumar is formally taken up or allowed to lapse.
• How the Bombay High Court's hearing requirement is applied to Special Intensive Revision deletions in other states.
• Whether the EC's new ECINet review committee publishes its findings.
• Voter-roll complaint numbers in the next state election held after a Special Intensive Revision.

Bottom Line

Two Election Commissioners' documented objections, a split Supreme Court opinion and a Bombay High Court ruling have together reopened a question that outlasts any single controversy: how much independence does Article 324 actually guarantee once Parliament, not the judiciary, decides who sits on the selection panel. The EC's nine procedural reforms address process, not the core objection over the Special Intensive Revision. Whether the Anoop Baranwal reference reaches a Constitution Bench will matter more for the next decade of elections than any single news cycle.

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Exam Takeaway

• Article 324(5): The CEC can be removed only like a Supreme Court judge; other Election Commissioners only on the CEC's recommendation.
• The Election Commission has been a three-member body since 1993; its decisions are taken by majority.
• Anoop Baranwal (2023) panel: PM, Leader of Opposition, CJI. The CEC and Other ECs Act, 2023 panel: PM, Leader of Opposition, a Union Minister.
• The Bombay High Court at Goa held that a draft electoral roll cannot be the sole basis for deleting a voter's name without a hearing.

Exam Angle

Prelims questions have previously tested the CEC removal procedure and the composition of the selection panel; this is a recurring theme worth revisiting given the 2026 developments. For Mains, the useful framing is institutional independence versus executive accountability, weighing the case for a government-nominated panel against the case for judicial or multi-party representation, using the 2026 dissent as a live illustration rather than a settled conclusion.

Sources & Further Reading

• Shekhar Gupta, 'Since Indira, govts drift in the 3rd year. Modi must restore EC image to get out of it', ThePrint, National Interest (26 September 2026)
• The Indian Express, 'Election Commission's nine new decisions: What changes and what doesn't' (27 September 2026)
• The Hindu, 'In need of an overhaul: on the Election Commission of India's press note' (28 September 2026)
• The Hindu, 'Draft electoral roll cannot be basis for deleting names without hearing: Bombay HC at Goa' (1 October 2026)
• Hindustan Times, 'Opposition may put on hold motion to remove CEC Gyanesh Kumar' (1 October 2026)