Two of the three Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, repeatedly raised objections over decisions concerning electoral-roll management during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), according to an investigation by The Indian Express.
The report comes at a time when Nagaland has also completed the enumeration phase of SIR, with 1,50,751 names absent from the State’s draft electoral roll published on September 20. The State’s pre-SIR electorate of 13,57,208 has come down to 12,06,457 in the draft roll.
According to The Indian Express, Sandhu and Joshi recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months on issues including voter registration, electoral-roll database access and changes to the Commission’s IT-related work allocation.
The Election Commission of India (ECI), responding a day after the report, acknowledged the internal notes but said differing views among its members were a normal part of the decision-making process.
“Differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberation in any institution,” the Commission said, describing written notes, observations, technical suggestions and internal checks and balances as standard practices. It said the suggestions were intended to improve electoral processes and maintained that decisions taken by the full Commission over the past year, including those concerning SIR, were unanimous.
One of the issues concerned Form 6, the application used by eligible citizens to register as voters.
Joshi had reportedly recorded in May that the form could not be altered without amendments to the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, with Sandhu agreeing. The form was nevertheless changed in July to include a question asking new applicants whether they or their parents or grandparents appeared in the electoral roll of the previous SIR.
Sandhu later described the change as “unauthorised/illegal” and directed that it be removed, according to the report.
The two Commissioners also raised concerns over access to the electoral-roll database. Joshi flagged what he described as a “gradual centralisation” of the database, while Sandhu later recorded that state-level officials were reporting that they did not have “proper and complete access” to the ERONet portal.
The ECI, however, said its digital platforms operate under strict data-security protocols and that Electoral Registration Officers and District Election Officers continue to function according to their statutory powers.
For Nagaland voters, the issue comes as the State’s claims and objections period is underway until October 20. The Election Department has said eligible electors whose names are missing from the draft roll can seek inclusion by submitting Form 6 along with the prescribed declaration.
The final electoral roll for Nagaland is scheduled to be published on November 22.
The Indian Express investigation was based on internal notes and letters exchanged between October 2025 and August 2026. The ECI said the reported objections represented part of its internal deliberations and that the broader decisions of the full Commission had been unanimous.
