Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi | Dissent in the Election Commission

When notices began to be issued after the publication of the draft list during the Delhi SIR [special intensive revision], one of the names was that of Election Commissioner (EC) Sukhbir Singh Sandhu . What was considered ironical on that day and time soon became a moment of reckoning for the poll body as reports emerged that Dr. Sandhu, along with his fellow Election Commissioner Vivek Joshi, had flagged many anomalies in the ongoing SIR process across the country over the last 10 months.

Though rumours of a rift within the Election Commission of India had been doing the rounds for some months, what came as a surprise were the formal dissent notes written by the two ECs, including one to the Cabinet Secretary, as both had been virtually handpicked by the government under the new 2023 Law for Appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.