Election Commission’s 2 big moves amid Opposition protests over SIR, CEC Gyanesh Kumar

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has announced two major changes amid growing opposition protests over its Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The poll body has ordered a Special Summary Revision in 17 states and Union territories and agreed to provide political parties with readable PDF copies of electoral rolls.

Both decisions address demands that opposition parties, particularly the Congress, have raised repeatedly. The timing has also drawn attention with protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar continuing over alleged irregularities in the voter list revision exercise.

The two announcements could make it easier for eligible voters to register and for political parties to examine changes in electoral rolls. However, questions remain over the deletions made during the ongoing SIR process.

SSR in 17 states, readable voter list PDFs among ECI’s key moves

The EC has announced an SSR exercise covering 17 states and Union territories, allowing eligible citizens to enrol and existing voters to update their details. The move comes after the annual revision process was put on hold amid the wider SIR exercise.

The decision has drawn a response from Congress leader P Chidambaram, who criticised the Commission over the timing and cost of the exercise. “After the protests and the notice issued by the Supreme Court, wisdom has dawned on the ECI and Gyanesh Kumar,” Chidambaram said in a post on X.

After the protests and the notice issued by the Supreme Court, wisdom has dawned on the ECI and Mr Gyanesh Kumar

S.I.R. has been abandoned for the 17 remaining States and UTs, and it will only be the customary SSR (special summary revision)

Documents to prove citizenship need not be produced

Why were 20 States discriminated against under S.I.R. and 13,30,00,000 names (including the dead) were removed without Due Process?

After removing crores of names illegally, now the ECI has undertaken another exercise to include the ‘left out’ voters!

Mr Gyanesh Kumar should be surcharged for the double expenditure

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) October 16, 2026

He also questioned the need for another exercise after crores of names had been removed from electoral rolls during SIR, arguing that the additional work would increase expenditure.

The second major decision concerns the format in which political parties receive voter lists. The ECI will provide machine-readable PDF copies of draft and final electoral rolls for each polling station, along with details of additions, deletions and modifications.

Unlike scanned PDFs, which make it difficult to search or copy voter information, readable files will allow parties to examine entries and track changes more easily.

Why voter list format has become political issue

The Congress has sought machine-readable electoral rolls since 2018 when senior leader Kamal Nath approached the Supreme Court over the issue ahead of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. The ECI had opposed the demand, citing privacy concerns and the possibility of data mining.

Rahul Gandhi revived the issue during his ‘vote chori’ campaign in 2025, alleging that the existing format made it harder to identify duplicate entries and potential irregularities. The latest decision has prompted fresh questions from opposition leaders. NCP (SP) MLA Jitendra Awhad asked why the Commission had changed its position after previously opposing the demand.

The twin announcements come as the ECI faces continued scrutiny over SIR and demands for accountability from opposition parties. Whether the changes will ease the political confrontation with the Commission remains to be seen.