SIR row: RTI response raises questions over EC’s claim of unanimous approval

The Election Commission on Saturday, September 26, 2026, reiterated that all decisions, including the order for the SIR issued on June 24, 2025, were issued with the unanimous approval of the commission. However, Anjali Bhardwaj, activist and co-convenor of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI), claimed that she filed an RTI almost a month after the SIR order was issued and received a response that the commission had not taken any such decision on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), and the CPIO noted the information was unavailable in any material form.

Following the ECI's June 2025 announcement of a nationwide SIR starting in Bihar, Bhardwaj filed an RTI application seeking official files and approvals. “The appellant is informed that the Commission has so far not taken any decision on initiating a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) across the country in 2025 and hence no information to be provided in this regard,” said TC Kom, Principal Secretary of the Election Commission of India, as per a screenshot of the RTI shared by Bhardwaj on the social media platform X.

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The SIR exercise has been at the centre of a nationwide discussion following an Express Investigation in late September which alleged internal conflict among the top leadership of the Election Commission. The Election Commission had issued a response to these allegations, projecting institutional unity. It claimed that the Commission functions under the mandate of Article 324 of the Constitution, statutory rules and established institutional conventions.

However, Bhardwaj's RTI response directly contradicts ECI's own press note in a very specific and officially documented way, carrying legal and administrative repercussions. The Nationwide SIR for electoral rolls was announced on June 24, 2025. On October 27, 2025, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar formally announced the nationwide schedule starting with 12 states and union territories. The schedule for an additional 19 states and union territories was later issued on May 14, 2026.