Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Thursday cited a fresh media report alleging that the Election Commission of India (ECI) failed to restore valid voters deleted by its ECINet software, despite repeated requests from Goa's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
In a post on X, Ramesh said the Goa CEO had written to the ECI eight times in seven days, seeking the inclusion of voters deleted by the software. He added that Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) in Goa had verified the voters as valid, but their emails went unanswered.
"After the sensational revelations in a leading national daily yesterday on the shocking manner in which the CEC has completely destroyed the integrity, credibility and competence of the Election Commission, there is another report this morning," Ramesh said.
He further alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls had been handed over to the ECINet software, resulting in the deletion or flagging of 54 per cent of voters in Delhi and nearly 12 crore voters across states during the third phase of the exercise.
Citing the media report, the Congress leader claimed that EROs' access to the ECINet software had been restricted, despite their statutory authority over electoral rolls under The Representation of the People Act, 1950.
"According to The Representation of the People Act, 1950, the ERO has statutory authority over the electoral roll. The 2 ECs wrote to the Cabinet Secretary flagging this violation," he said.
Ramesh also alleged that the process of adding new voters through Form 6 had been made more difficult, claiming that Gen Z was being targeted for exclusion.
The Congress general secretary said the latest reports supported allegations made by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over the past two years, following the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly election results.
"Each new piece of evidence further confirms what the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has been saying for almost two years ever since the Haryana and Maharashtra assembly election results were out. The election process has been thoroughly compromised and vitiated," he said.
Demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar's resignation, Ramesh alleged that the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister would also be held accountable.
"This is Gyanesh Kumar implementing the Method of Disenfranchising Indians (MODI). As a first step, the CEC Gyanesh Kumar must resign immediately if he has any shred of decency and morality left in him. The PM and the HM will thereafter be held accountable for their diabolical designs," he said.
Pawan Khera alleges 97 voters remain deleted in Goa
Congress leader Pawan Khera also raised concerns over the alleged deletion of 97 voters in Goa, stating that the state's Deputy Election Commissioner had approached Director General (IT) Seema Khanna but received no response.
In a post on X, Khera said the ground-level Electoral Registration Officers had decided that the 97 voters should be restored to the electoral rolls. However, he alleged that the ECI's IT division in Delhi had restricted their access to reverse the deletions.
"No response came. No correction was made. The 97 voters remain off the rolls," Khera said.
He argued that the decentralisation of electoral registration was intended to prevent any single office from exercising unilateral control over additions and deletions in electoral rolls.
"The entire architecture of electoral registration was designed to prevent precisely this. Authority over additions and deletions was entrusted to Electoral Registration Officers on the ground precisely so that no single office could sit atop the rolls and unilaterally determine who counts. That decentralisation was not an administrative convenience. It was the constitutional safeguard. Today, that safeguard stands effectively annihilated by centralised technological control," he said.
Shashi Tharoor seeks apology from Election Commission
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also expressed concern over the alleged irregularities, stating that the issue involved the deprivation of citizens' constitutional rights and access to essential medical benefits.
Tharoor demanded an apology from the Election Commission and called for the removal of the software and reversal of the alleged harm caused by it.
"This is extremely serious and involves depriving Indian citizens of their constitutional rights, as well as withholding essential humanitarian benefits, from dialysis treatments to transplants. Political chicanery is bad enough, but inhumane conduct is unconscionable. @ECISVEEP owes an apology to the affected citizens and indeed to the nation. Resignation is a minimal demand; rescinding this disastrous software and undoing the harm it has caused is now indispensable," he said.
BJP rejects allegations, calls reports a smear campaign
Meanwhile, Jharkhand BJP Chief Spokesperson Pratul Shah Deo rejected the allegations, accusing opposition parties of running a coordinated campaign to discredit constitutional institutions.
Speaking to ANI, Shah Deo termed the reports a "nationwide smear campaign" and alleged that opposition leaders were attempting to undermine the Election Commission following repeated electoral defeats.
"We believe a nationwide smear campaign is underway, orchestrated by the Opposition through the planting of news stories. The fact that posts appear on 'X' from various leaders within just ten minutes of a story being planted suggests that something is clearly being cooked up. The Election Commission conducted elections very efficiently across 12 states; the process went smoothly. If two Election Commissioners were vehemently opposed, any action taken wouldn't have yielded the desired benefit. I feel that those who are repeatedly losing elections are the ones trying to cast aspersions on the Election Commission," he said.
Shah Deo also accused the Congress of politicising the Election Commission, citing former Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill's appointment as a Union Minister in the Congress-led UPA government after leaving the poll body.
"The politicisation of the Election Commission actually occurred back when M.S. Gill stepped down as Chief Election Commissioner; he subsequently served as a Union Minister in the Congress-led UPA government for ten years," he said.
The remarks followed a fresh report by The Indian Express stating that Goa's Chief Electoral Officer had written to authorities in Delhi eight times over seven days seeking access to restore deleted voters, but received no response.
The report came after an earlier media report claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months regarding decisions and orders related to the SIR process.