A public interest litigation (PIL) petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking an independent expert committee to examine alleged institutional shortcomings in the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI), including concerns over electoral roll management, internal decision-making and the handling of appeals.
Filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, the petition seeks a committee headed by a former Chief Justice of India or a former Supreme Court judge. It also calls for an "absolute prohibition" on election campaigning involving religious tags, religious symbols, communal appeals, sectarian identity or hate speech.
The petitioner has clarified that the plea is non-partisan and prospective in nature. It does not seek a finding against any political party or office-holder, nor does it challenge the outcome of any election.
Concerns over decisions within the Election Commission
The petition refers to a September 23 report by The Indian Express, which stated that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded written objections on at least 14 occasions over a period of 10 months concerning decisions taken unilaterally by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
According to the plea, the objections related to alleged unauthorised changes to statutory Form 6, the centralisation of the electoral database, the filing of unapproved appeals in West Bengal and orders concerning the allocation of work within the Commission.
The petition states that the ECI acknowledged the dissenting notes but characterised them as routine suggestions. It further alleges that the Commission did not clarify who had authorised the changes to Form 6, the application used for voter registration.
The controversy over Form 6 has also drawn the Supreme Court's attention in related proceedings. The court recently clarified that it had not approved the modified version of the form and indicated that it would examine the Commission's records to establish who had made the changes.
West Bengal SIR appeals and Maharashtra voter data flagged
The plea has raised concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, particularly the large number of appeals filed by people excluded from the rolls and the pace at which they are being resolved.
Citing media reports concerning an affidavit filed by the ECI, the petition states that approximately 38.20 lakh appeals had been filed by people excluded from the electoral rolls, but only around 1.02 lakh had been disposed of. The Commission had reportedly sought to increase the number of appellate tribunals from 19 to 42 to address the backlog.
The petition has also cited a report highlighting anomalies in Maharashtra's draft electoral roll. According to the report, 2,70,313 electors were listed as being between 101 and 150 years old, an anomaly attributed to a default birth-year glitch.
The petitioner has argued that such issues warrant an independent examination of the Commission's institutional functioning and electoral data management.
Committee to include constitutional and technology experts
The proposed expert committee would examine the shortcomings identified in the plea and include specialists from several fields, including constitutional law, election administration, statistics, technology, cybersecurity and data protection.
The petition seeks an independent assessment of the Commission's functioning amid concerns over internal decision-making, electoral database management, the processing of appeals and the integrity of voter records.
It also calls for stricter safeguards against the use of religion, communal identity and hate speech in election campaigns, seeking measures that would apply prospectively rather than target any particular political party or individual.