NEW DELHI: Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh accused the election process of being “thoroughly compromised and vitiated,” alleging Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is executing what he referred to as the “Method of Disenfranchising Indians (MODI).” In a post on X, Ramesh cited a report from the Indian Express, stating that the Goa CEO had contacted the Election Commission of India (ECI) eight times in a week to request the inclusion of 97 voters who had been removed by the ECINet software. He claimed that Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) had confirmed the eligibility of those voters.
Ramesh further noted that access to the ECINet system was limited for EROs and other election officials, pointing to objections raised by Sandhu and Joshi. Reportedly, these two Election Commissioners objected 14 times over a period of 10 months regarding decisions and directives related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
Vijai Sardesai, president of the Goa Forward Party, demanded that the names of all voters who had been removed from the electoral roll, with the exception of deceased individuals, be restored immediately. He highlighted that elections in Goa are often decided by extremely narrow margins, sometimes fewer than 100 votes, suggesting that the deletion of voters could significantly impact the outcome of the 2027 assembly elections. Sardesai called for the SIR process to be rolled back, expressing concern over the limited time the Election Commission has to conduct a fresh revision before the upcoming polls.
In contrast, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dismissed the opposition’s claims, accusing them of attempting to undermine constitutional institutions.
The ECI’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) initiative, which commenced in Bihar in June 2025 to streamline electoral rolls, has led to the exclusion of over 13 crore names from draft rolls across 30 states and Union Territories. An investigation by the Indian Express highlighted that the two commissioners raised formal objections at least 14 times regarding various issues, including voter registration, name deletions, modifications to Form 6, and the centralization of electoral roll databases.
