Akshay DidwaniyaCongress hit out at the election process, while BJP leaders said opposition parties were spreading false notions and weakening democratic institutions.
The CEC Gyanesh Kumar resignation demand grew louder on Sunday as the row over the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) heated up. Chief ministers of BJP ruled states stood firmly behind the poll body. Congress and other opposition parties held their ground against the exercise and pressed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar to quit.
The war of words followed a big announcement from the ECI a day earlier. The commission changed the SIR procedure and eased hearing requirements. It also pushed back document submission deadlines in Delhi and Maharashtra by about a month. Opposition parties and civil society groups had criticised the exercise for days.
Opposition Steps Up the Attack
Congress led the opposition charge and insisted that Kumar must go. The demand came days before a meeting of its top decision making body on the roll revision exercise. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) also criticised the central polling body.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra repeated her call for Kumar to resign and accused him of partisanship. She was answering a question about an allegation that Kumar had urged former Kerala chief secretary Jiji Thomson to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election on a BJP ticket.
“Not only do they have party leanings, but they are actively propagating those parties. How can they conduct fair elections? This is just one in a series of things that this gentleman (the CEC) has done, which are completely illegal and unconstitutional. He needs to resign, and he needs to resign now,” she said.
BJP Chief Ministers Rush to Defend the Poll Body
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath accused the Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of “consistently attempting to damage constitutional institutions”. He spoke to the press at his residence.
“They have spread misconceptions regarding SIR. This is not the first time. SIRs were carried out in 1952, 1957, 1961, 1965-66 and 2003, mostly under Congress governments. The uproar by the Congress, SP and the RJD over the current exercise is extremely unfortunate,” Adityanath said during an interaction with the press at his residence.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis turned his fire on Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi. He accused Gandhi of “creating anarchy”.
“By creating this situation of anarchy, he wants to make people feel that the democratic system that the Constitution established cannot give them justice,” he said.
Fadnavis also rejected the opposition claim that votes were “stolen”.
“I want to say in very clear words that no votes were stolen. Rahul Gandhi’s mind was stolen. As for that stolen mind, I would request the Prime Minister to form a committee that brings his mind back so that he speaks in the country’s interest,” he said.
Dissent Inside the Commission Fuels the Controversy
The fresh clash came days after an Indian Express investigation raised serious questions. The report said election commissioners SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded written dissents and objections at least 14 times between November 2025 and August 2026. They even wrote to the cabinet secretary.
The report also alleged that election officials found their access to the ECI software curtailed by the central IT team. The ECI responded that differing views were a normal part of deliberation. It added that all its digital platforms worked under strict data security protocols to prevent unauthorised tampering or manipulation.
On Saturday, Kumar, Sandhu and Joshi held a meeting. It was their first since the controversy over the poll body’s conduct broke out. The commission ordered a review of its ECINET portal. It also defended an addition to Form 6, which new electors use to enrol themselves. The ECI claimed the Supreme Court had upheld that addition.
In the ongoing SIR in Delhi and Maharashtra, the ECI extended every deadline by roughly a month. Even so, the political back and forth carried on unchecked.
Chief Ministers From Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Uttarakhand Join In
West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari blamed his predecessor Mamata Banerjee for the deletion of 2.7 million names from the state’s voter rolls during the SIR.
“Those who are unable to mentally accept the BJP’s victory in Bengal are trying to spread confusion by clinging to a fabricated report. This picture itself proves that every decision relating to the SIR was taken jointly and unanimously. There is no question of anyone imposing a decision unilaterally,” Adhikari said.
“The responsibility for the deletion of 27 lakh [2.7 million] names lies with Mamata Banerjee, not the BJP or the EC. Judicial officers took the decision following the Supreme Court’s directions in a case filed by her,” he added.
In Bihar, chief minister Samrat Choudhary defended the revision in his state. He said the process “was completed following prescribed rules and in a transparent manner, ensuring that no eligible person’s name was removed from the electoral rolls while full provisions for claims and objections remained available”.
“Opposition leaders have no facts; they are only making allegations,” he said.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma attacked Rahul Gandhi. He said the Congress was inventing accusations after losing a string of elections.
“In 2014, you (Congress) lost the election when the Manmohan Singh-appointed Election Commission was there… Rahul Gandhi should introspect on why people are rejecting the Congress party again and again. There is no introspection. They will not go to a state where they lost. They will not analyse the reason why they have lost. Whenever you lose an election, you start blaming EVMs,” Sarma told news agency ANI.
Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also accused the Congress of concocting falsehoods. He defended the under fire polling agency as well.
“It would be inappropriate to portray any internal deliberations or comments as a ‘difference of opinion’ regarding the Commission’s final decision,” Dhami said. He also pointed out that the Supreme Court had upheld the statutory validity of the SIR process in a verdict on May 27, 2026.
Opposition Keeps Pressing for Removal
The opposition kept up its push for Kumar’s removal. The CEC Gyanesh Kumar resignation demand now has a formal track, as Congress is preparing to bring an impeachment notice against him. The CPI(M) and the NCP (SP) have also criticised the commission.
The CPI(M) rejected the ECI’s September 26 statement and asked Kumar to step down. Its Politburo, the party’s top decision making body, said the disclosures about objections inside the commission had strengthened concerns over the SIR process.
“The Election Commission of India’s (ECI) statement issued on September 26 does not address the serious questions raised by disclosures about the Commission’s functioning and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls,” the Politburo said.
NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar also attacked the commission. He alleged that it was working as a representative of the central government rather than the citizens of India.
“The Election Commission is a constitutional body. Its head is not a representative of the government; rather, they represent the people of India. Past election commissioners genuinely represented the people and the Constitution of India. However, in the current situation, Gyanesh Kumar does not represent the people; if he represents anyone, it is the Government of India,” Pawar said.
Mayur Mohta
Aditya Didwaniya