EC Cries 'Conspiracy' Over Complaints Against CEC, CEO, But Faces Sharp Scrutiny For SIR’s 'Descent Into Farce'
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has termed police complaints filed against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal, with reference to deaths of voters who had received hearing notices under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise as attempts to intimidate officials of the Commission.
In unusually sharp language, the CEO, West Bengal, wrote on X: “No stone will be left unturned to unearth the conspiracy behind these serial and fabricated complaints, rule of law and truth shall prevail.”
Important Notice@ECISVEEP @SpokespersonECI @cabsect_india @DoPTGoI @PIBHomeAffairs pic.twitter.com/btrGku90hz
— CEO West Bengal (@CEOWestBengal) December 31, 2025
In the post, and thread of posts, which has tagged the Home Ministry and Department of Personnel and training, DoPT, the CEO Agarwal writes, “It has come to the notice of this office from various press releases that two complaints have been filed with the police, against the Chief Election Commissioner of India and the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal.” He adds “the allegations contained therein appear to be premeditated, unsubstantiated and a crude attempt to browbeat the officers tasked with discharging statutory duties in connection with SIR 2026.”
Calling the reports of the FIR on the deaths, pressure tactics, the CEO said: “Such intimidatory tactics designed to threaten the election machinery into submission and derail the process are undoubtedly destined to fail.”
“…The election machinery in the state is committed to function with grit and rectitude solely and wholly in public interest.”
Newspaper reports cite EC officials as saying, “No FIR can be lodged against the CEC. The law is specific on this. A CEO too cannot be blamed for any criminal offence while discharging his duties. Any FIR drawn by police will have legal consequences.”
A provision inserted in the controversial law on appointing Election Commissioners, before Gyanesh Kumar was appointed, prohibits any legal action against the CEC or ECs. Clause 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 grants immunity against any legal action for decisions taken while in office.
So far, in West Bengal and in other states mandated to do this SIR in a very compressed time frame, anxiety among booth level officers (BLOs) has resulted in deaths, reported widely, and resulting in deadlines for draft roles being pushed.
The complaints were filed by families of two elderly voters who died on Monday (December 29) after receiving hearing notices under the SIR process.
The Telegraph reports that in Purulia, Kanai Majhi alleged that his father, Durjan Majhi, 82, was distressed after receiving a notice, claiming his name appeared in the physical 2002 Bengal SIR rolls but was missing from the 2002 SIR list uploaded on the Election Commission’s website. Durjan Majhi died by suicide, just hours before his hearing.
In Howrah, the son of 64-year-old Jamat Ali Sekh alleged that the CEC and the state CEO had misused their powers by issuing a hearing notice to his father, a valid voter, subjecting him to mental duress that allegedly led to his death.
The ECI has been changing rules, last in a December 27 notification in West Bengal it cited a “technical glitch”. It said that for 1.3 lakh voters whose names appear in the 2002 physical SIR rolls but are missing from the online database due to a technical glitch would not be required to appear for hearings.
In UP’s Ayodhya, there have been reports that around 15,000 sadhus (Hindu ascetics) could have trouble naming fathers and mothers, to enable the ECI to trace descent, and the ECI may end up granting them a concession too.
The Election Commission has been forced to change rules and regulations mid-stream in a series of fumbles that have come under sharp scrutiny. An editorial in The Hindu termed the exercise as gradually becoming a “decent into farce.”
It elaborates, “There are inconsistencies and anomalies in the draft electoral rolls, many of which have been flagged by The Hindu’s data-driven investigations. The over 6.5 crore deletions, according to provisional numbers, suggest methodological problems in and poor implementation of the exercise. In Uttar Pradesh, provisional figures show that 2.89 crore names have been deleted, which could possibly explain why the ECI has postponed publication of the draft roll to January 6. In Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, which are relatively urbanised States with net in-migration of electors, 97 lakh and 73.7 lakh electors, respectively, have been taken off the draft rolls. That both States have since seen the furious inclusion of lakhs of names — added incomprehensibly as fresh additions in another procedural flaw — suggests that the enumeration phase was concluded haphazardly.”
The Wire had reported on December 30 about the death of a school headmaster by suicide under pressure, and also reported on several BLOs of Bankura district in West Bengal had said that after the publication of the draft voter list and the preparations for the hearings had taken an enormous toll on their health.
Members of the Constitutional Conduct Group have written in saying that “suo motu system-driven deletion of electors from the draft electoral rolls in West Bengal in the ongoing SIR process [bypassed] the statutory role of the [Electoral Registration Officers]”.
The Reporters’ Collective found that eight days after informing Supreme Court that its de-duplication software is defective, “ECI abruptly reactivated it for 12 states. But scrapped the established protocol for its safe use. It also deployed a second undocumented algorithm without a written protocol.”
In the latest deadline shift, Uttar Pradesh's draft rolls will come out only on January 6 now and the final list is expected later.
Trinamool Congress national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee, who was part of a party delegation that met the Election Commission on Wednesday (December 31), said that ECI did not clear their apprehensions and that the state's Chief Election Commissioner was "aggressive" during the meeting. "When we started talking, he (CEC) started losing his temper...I said you are nominated, I am elected...If he has the guts, he should release the footage," he said.
This article went live on January first, two thousand twenty six, at thirty-three minutes past one in the afternoon.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
