Chidambaram challenges ECI over electoral roll exclusion process

Chidambaram argues that the exclusion of lakhs of voters in West Bengal occurred without due process, necessitating a six-month tribunal review that restored 91 to 93 percent of the 1.26 lakh appeals filed. He contends that if re-enrolment was always possible through a standard form, the entire exercise involving the removal of 13.3 crore names was a profound waste of public funds. The Congress leader specifically challenged the ECI to explain who bears responsibility for the millions in expenditure incurred during both the mass deletion and subsequent restoration phases.

Simultaneously, broader opposition pressure is mounting against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Following detentions of protesters in Delhi and Mumbai, the INDIA bloc has scheduled further rallies for October 6 and November 1. This volatility follows reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections 14 times regarding procedural transparency. While the ECI characterizes these as standard administrative inputs, the opposition maintains that the internal friction and the scale of the deletions point to a systemic failure in safeguarding voter integrity.