Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar has demanded that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi apologise to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Election Commission of India (ECI) over his remarks concerning reported differences within the poll panel.
The demand comes amid a political controversy following a The Indian Express investigation that reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over a period of 10 months. The reported disagreements covered issues related to voter registration, deletion and restoration of names, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and aspects of the Election Commission’s information systems.
Rahul Gandhi subsequently demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, saying the reported objections supported concerns that the Congress and other opposition parties had previously raised about the electoral process.
Chandrasekhar has criticised Gandhi’s statements and called for an apology. His position reflects the BJP’s broader response to the opposition’s criticism of the Election Commission and its handling of the SIR exercise.
The BJP has argued that differences during internal deliberations do not necessarily mean that the Election Commission’s final decisions were invalid. BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi questioned the basis of the Indian Express report and pointed out that the report did not contain on-record or off-record comments from the two Election Commissioners themselves.
The Election Commission has also defended its decision-making process. In a response to the investigation, the ECI said that differing views and observations are a normal part of institutional deliberations. It stated that the decisions taken by the Commission over the past year, including those concerning electoral-roll revision and SIR, were decisions of the full Commission.
The reported disagreements involved several sensitive aspects of electoral-roll management. According to the investigation, Sandhu and Joshi raised concerns about changes to Form 6, which is used for new voter registration, as well as the deletion and restoration of voters during the SIR process. They also reportedly questioned the increasing centralisation of the electoral database and related IT systems.
The controversy has led opposition parties to seek greater scrutiny of the Election Commission. Several opposition leaders have called for an investigation and questioned whether the reported objections were adequately considered before decisions were implemented.
At the same time, the ECI has maintained that internal notes and disagreements form part of the normal decision-making process and do not change the validity of the Commission’s final decisions. The BJP has similarly argued that the electoral process remains governed by the applicable legal framework.
The dispute over SIR and the reported differences among Election Commissioners has therefore developed into a wider political debate over the functioning and transparency of India’s electoral institutions. Chandrasekhar’s demand for an apology adds another dimension to the ongoing exchange between the BJP and Congress over the issue.