00:00I want to start with a huge story, a story that exposes a major divide at the very top
00:07of India's election commission and in the line of fire is the chief election commissioner Gyanesh
00:13Kumar. An Indian Express report today has sensationally showed that on several occasions,
00:19at least 14 times in the last 10 months, the other two election commissioners had objected to what
00:25they call unauthorized and illegal decisions that were being taken by the election commission,
00:30including the manner in which addition and deletion of voters were being used through a
00:35centralized software. Despite this, those decisions went through. All of this has put the onus squarely
00:43on Gyanesh Kumar. The election commission is insisting that the decisions were taken unanimously
00:48despite the objections. But the opposition isn't listening. They want Gyanesh Kumar to be suspended
00:54and some are even saying that all the elections held under his tenure should now be cancelled and
01:02held afresh. The government is sticking by Gyanesh Kumar, but clearly the chief election commissioner
01:08now will have much to answer for. It's our top story tonight.
01:15The election commission is a divided house. Several issues linked to the special intensive revision
01:22that has deleted 13 crore people from electoral rolls have become a flashpoint.
01:29The Indian Express on Wednesday reported that two election commissioners, Sukbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi,
01:35put their objections on record 14 times in the last 10 months.
01:41The two election commissioners have flagged decisions taken and orders issued allegedly without their knowledge.
01:48The report claims the objections by the ECs were marked to chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and in some cases
01:56deputy ECs.
02:00One of the objections is related to a new clause added to form 6 to be filled by new voters.
02:07The form now asks the applicants if their parents or grandparents are on the electoral roll of last SIR.
02:14The two VCs, according to the newspaper report, noted this is unauthorized and illegal and only the government could change
02:22form 6 by amending rules.
02:25The two VCs raised concerns about centralization of the software where the voter list resides.
02:31They point out that state-level officials were unable to get full access to Eronet portal which has the voter
02:39data.
02:40This, when the electoral registration officer is the statutory authority on the ground with powers to make corrections in voter
02:48list.
02:49Another issue flagged by the two VCs is the appeals pending in tribunals in West Bengal.
02:55The election commission recently informed the Supreme Court that 38 lakh appeals are pending, of which 22.21 lakh are
03:05filed by excluded voters to get back on the rolls.
03:08The remaining 16.10 lakh are filed to delete voters cleared by an adjudication process earlier.
03:16Election commissioner Sandhu asked the EC officials who authorized filing of appeals on behalf of EC seeking deletion of names.
03:24The newspaper report says Sandhu recorded that Joshi and Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal were not informed about these
03:34appeals.
03:35The two VCs even wrote to Cabinet Secretary TV Somnathan on July 29th, after an official who supervised the IT
03:44division was removed without the approval of the VCs.
03:47A day later, the two VCs set aside the changes.
03:52Their note was sent to the CEC as well.
03:56The news report also cites how 97 voters cleared by an electoral registration officer could not be added to the
04:04voter list due to a software glitch.
04:06The ERO was enabled to include the names by January 29th, a deadline set by the Supreme Court.
04:13Reacting to the newspaper report, the election commission has issued a press release.
04:20The election commission says, highlighting certain specific internal notes, observations, give only one part of the picture.
04:28It adds that all decisions, including SIR, were unanimous.
04:33The EC claims its digital platforms, such as ECINET, operate under strict data security protocols.
04:41It claims statutory authorities, including electoral registration officers and district election officers, function as per law.
04:51The election commission's statement, however, is silent on addition of a new clause in Form 6 for new voters.
04:59Charges that the two ECs were kept in the dark on some decisions and centralization of voter list data.
05:06While the EC insists, all is well, the divide within is clearly too deep to be fixed easily.
05:14Bureau Report, India Today.
