Congress accuses EC of violating law over ECINet, calls for accountability

The Congress on Friday accused the Election Commission of "lying" about the ECINet portal and violating The Representation of the People Act, as it stressed on accountability for the "violations of the law and the Constitution".

Congress general secretary in-charge Jairam Ramesh said that in its "damage control but actually damage enhancing" press note on September 26, 2026 the Election Commission of India had promised a committee to certify that the legally suspect ECINet "complies with the provisions of the Acts and Rules".

"In reality, this should never have been in doubt at all in the first place if the intentions of the CEC Gyanesh Kumar were honest - which they were not," Ramesh said.

ECINet was launched on January 22, 2026 with much fanfare to "enhance transparency, credibility and public trust", he said.

The ECI press note of that day assured the country that it "has been developed in strict accordance with the law" and in full compliance with the Constitution of India, the Representation of the People Acts, 1950 and 1951, and Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, he said on X.

"All of this was a lie," the Congress general secretary claimed.

"By restricting access of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to the ECINet voter roll system and by overruling EROs in states like Goa, West Bengal and others, the ECI controlled by the CEC has violated The Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960," Ramesh said.

Both these laws establish that the ERO has statutory authority over the electoral roll, he said.

After the revelations last week, the Maharashtra CEO wrote to the ECI on September 24, 2026 asking for a correction of this illegal state of affairs, Ramesh pointed out.

"Starting today, the INDIA janbandhan, citizens and many civil society organisations will hit the streets across the country demanding accountability for these violations of the law and the Constitution," Ramesh said.

The Congress on Thursday had said the chorus of voices against the capture of the electoral system is getting louder and asserted that citizens will no longer tolerate "vote chori" in any form.

The opposition INDIA bloc on Wednesday announced joint 'save democracy' marches in all districts and five major rallies, demanded that future polls be held with ballot paper and appealed to the Supreme Court to expedite cases of SIR and electoral "malpractices".

At a meeting attended by leaders of as many as 19 political parties, it was decided that all opposition MPs will march to the Election Commission on October 6 and the leaders would meet the President to highlight the issues related to alleged irregularities in voter list revision.

The opposition grouping discussed the demand for the CEC's resignation and said they will not relent till he is ousted.

The meeting came days after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.

Under fire over the red flags raised by two of its commissioners over the SIR process, the EC has asserted that differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.