In the last 10 months, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have lodged their objections formally at least 14 times against the decision made by CEC Gyanesh Kumar, as per the report by The Indian Express.
These include objections related to voter enrollment, deletion or restoration of names in electoral rolls, modifications to Form 6, and control over Election Commission’s IT resources. Both Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have not responded to the issue till now.
As per the reports, the two commissioners had pointed out issues related to the deletion and registration of voters, to alterations in Form 6, which is the statutory document for registering new voters, and to centralization of control over the voter database.
Their points also included legal powers of the IT Director General in restricting access by statutory officers. Additionally, the two commissioners brought up the point about the disenfranchisement of eligible voters in Goa because of software constraints.
One such example occurred in May 2026, where Joshi raised an objection against changes to Form 6.
In a second written objection, Sandhu claimed that the Commission was acting "contrary to the written opinion of two commissioners" and was hence "unauthorised and illegal."
Since their complaints within the Commission were not taken into consideration, Sandhu and Joshi resorted to the unique move of addressing Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan individually.
It is reported that this particular action was unprecedented in the history of the Commission since they considered the concerned order to be in violation of the statute relating to the Election Commission of India. The reasons behind their individual complaint are the recent changes made in the way the work related to the Commission’s IT infrastructure is distributed without prior notice.
Commission work is supposed to be conducted by consensus under Section 18 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, so long as it is practically possible.
In case there is a difference of opinions, the issue should be resolved on the basis of the majority opinion. The Election (Conduct of Elections) Rules also require that Commission work be conducted in an open manner with the consensus of all three members.
Election Commission sources have challenged the notion that the objections amounted to any form of formal dissent.
It has been claimed that although it is possible that some observations or differences could have been expressed by the commissioners at the time of making decisions, all the decisions, even those regarding SIR of the electoral roll, were unanimously made and supported by all three commissioners.
It is alleged that the development gave rise to a meeting between the CEC and the two commissioners to iron out the discord, but the results of the meeting are still not known.
It is this timing that has emphasized the importance of the alleged difference. SIR Exercise in the state of Bihar began in June 2025, which has resulted in more than 13 crore deletions of names from the electoral lists of 30 states and union territories.
An exercise of such magnitude being undertaken by an organization that is supposed to work in unison makes the alleged discord between them very important indeed.
According to the reports about the conflict that was going on, former Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat termed it as “very serious” and “unfortunate,” commenting on the friction existing between Sandhu, Joshi, and CEC Kumar.
The political response came too after this news. The opposition has called for the ousting of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, terming him as being "a one-man autocrat."
Both Sandhu and Joshi have been silent on this issue to date, and no information regarding the measures taken after receiving the letters has been revealed by the Commission.
Given the pressure of the opposition parties for an explanation and a former CEC describing this as a serious situation, it would not be wrong to say that the alleged infighting in the Commission would remain under close watch.
