New Delhi, October 2, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Former Union Minister and Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Friday accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of attempting to “cover his tracks” and reverse what he described as unilateral and illegal decisions taken in the name of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
In a post on X, Chidambaram described the Election Commission’s letter dated September 29 as a “confession” by the CEC, alleging that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls had excluded lakhs of genuine voters and that the poll body had now directed that those left out be re-enrolled.
“The letter dated 29-09-2026 of the Election Commission is actually a ‘confession’ by Mr Gyanesh Kumar… the S.I.R. left out many lakhs of genuine voters, and he has now directed that the ‘left out’ voters must be re-enrolled!” Chidambaram wrote.
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His remarks followed the Election Commission’s September 29 decision to remove the additional declaration requirement for Form 6, the voter enrolment form, from its ECINET application portal in states where the SIR of electoral rolls has been completed. The changes to the ECINET system came into effect on September 30.
Chidambaram alleged that control of ECINET had been centralised, stripping the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs), District Election Officers (DEOs) and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) of their powers.
He claimed the September 29 letter acknowledged that the SIR process had resulted in the exclusion of lakhs of voters in haste, and that the CEC had now directed that no negative decisions should be taken “in haste”.
“Gyanesh Kumar spent several crores of rupees in excluding 13,30,00,000 voters, and he is now spending crores of rupees to include them,” Chidambaram alleged.
The Congress leader further accused the CEC of using the ECI to protect BJP governments. He also claimed that the BJP government was now protecting Kumar by banning protests and shutting down 11 Metro stations.
“What about the crores/lakhs of persons among the 13,30,00,000 who were unable to vote in the recent Assembly elections in Bihar, West Bengal, etc.? What about the affected voters whose appeals were allowed by the judges in West Bengal (93 per cent of the cases disposed of) and who were unable to vote in the West Bengal Assembly elections?” asked Chidambaram, a Congress Rajya Sabha MP.
Chidambaram said the decisions taken by the CEC had exposed what he described as fault lines within the Election Commission.
He cited the alleged protest by the Maharashtra CEO, the Odisha CEO’s application for premature retirement and an inquiry ordered by the Karnataka CEO into bulk Form 7 applications, which he claimed were mainly directed against Muslim voters.
He also referred to questions raised by the Bombay High Court to the ECI and the Maharashtra CEO, urging other Chief Electoral Officers to speak out against what he called illegal directions and decisions.
Chidambaram further claimed that several judges appointed to hear appeals in West Bengal had expressed frustration, adding that one judge had quit.
“One judge has quit. The entire illegal S.I.R. is unravelling. Where is the original file in which the decision to conduct an S.I.R. was taken?” he wrote.
The allegations were made by Chidambaram amid the ongoing controversy over the SIR process and the Election Commission’s changes to the Form 6 enrolment procedure.
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