A collective of former senior civil servants has launched a scathing attack on the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI), demanding the resignation and prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and the complete scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
In a statement, the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG) — comprising retired officers from the All-India and Central Services — alleged that the ECI's independence and impartiality have been systematically eroded, describing its recent functioning as "imperious, autocratic and dictatorial."
'Weaponised Constitutional Authority'
The group alleged that the ECI "weaponised the lawful constitutional authority vested in itself to introduce unnecessarily complicated processes that enabled large scale manipulations in the Electoral Rolls to take place."
"The project was ordered without any discussion, deliberation, consultation or framing of appropriate rules and without proper training of lakhs of government officials undertaking the job," the statement reads. "The decision on SIR was reportedly conveyed on WhatsApp and there is no file on this in the ECI."
The CCG claimed the SIR has caused "untold trauma and anxiety to all Indians eligible to vote" and "massive disenfranchisement/deletion of genuine voters, which could be a staggering 15%–16% of India's electorate, mostly minorities, marginalised and the elderly, without any avenues for quick and easy redress."
Divisions Within the Commission
The statement alleges that two of the three Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, "were not party to the decisions made" and recorded objections "at least 14 times in 10 months."
"The worst of these are the illegal alteration of Form 6 and the launching ECINet, thereby centralising the electoral rolls," the group stated, adding that the latter "sabotaged the role of Electoral Registration Officers who are the statutory authority for additions, deletions and corrections in the voter's list."
The CCG accused Gyanesh Kumar of violating the law on decision-making in the ECI, which requires that all business "shall, as far as possible, be transacted unanimously" and differences "shall be decided according to the opinion of the majority."
"Substantive decisions which the law vests in 'the Election Commission' but which were taken in its name without being placed before the Commission are ultra vires," the statement said.
However, the group did not spare the two other commissioners, stating they "might have made objections internally to the CEC's decisions, but they allowed SIR to be conducted in state after state, disenfranchising millions of voters, without speaking out."
'Cover Up' Allegation
Referring to the ECI's decisions on September 26, 2026 — that the old Form 6 will be used during the non-SIR period, that a committee will review ECINet's functioning, and that a special drive will rectify illegal voter deletions — the CCG said these "only confirms that Gyanesh Kumar has been functioning unilaterally."
"But the participation, without demur, of the two Election Commissioners in this meeting, proves that they are willing to go along with the cover up that is taking place," the statement alleged.
Impeachment Motion Cited
The group noted that Gyanesh Kumar previously faced an impeachment motion by 193 MPs from both Houses of Parliament, with a chargesheet signed by 130 Lok Sabha members and 63 Rajya Sabha members. The charges included "partisan and discriminatory" conduct, "mass disenfranchisement" through SIR, "proven misbehaviour," actions that "undermine public confidence," "partisan exercise" of Constitutional functions in favour of one party, and "deliberate obstruction" of investigations into complaints of "electoral fraud."
The CCG alleged violations of Article 14, Article 19(1)(a), Article 324, and Article 326 of the Constitution, as well as Section 18(1) and (2) of the CEC & EC Appointment Act and provisions of the Representation of Peoples Act.
Demands
The group demanded:
1. Resignation and prosecution of Gyanesh Kumar as CEC, followed by "his prosecution under the law for crimes against the Constitution"
2. Scrapping of the entire SIR process, with electoral rolls prepared under it subjected to "public audits in every Gram Sabha/Municipal Ward as per the provisions in the Election Manual"
3. Restoration of legitimacy and validity to existing EPI Cards, except for corrections of errors found during revision
4. Amendments to the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 to "democratise the selection process and remove the immunity given to the Election Commissioners"
The group also urged the Supreme Court to revisit its "hasty validation of SIR," calling it "the root cause for all the ills afflicting this project."
"We urge the honourable judges to revisit that judgment and rectify the same to protect India's electoral democracy that has been vandalised by SIR," the statement concluded.
The statement was signed by 74 retired officers, including former Foreign Secretary and National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, former Home Secretary G.K. Pillai, former Health Secretary K. Sujatha Rao, former Secretary Wajahat Habibullah (also former Chief Information Commissioner), and former Ambassador to Japan Aftab Seth, among others.
The signatories represent a cross-section of former IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS, and other service officers who held senior positions across central and state governments.
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