AI startup accesses Anthropic's internal systems in under 12 hours, exposes employee details

The incident comes amid wider scrutiny of AI agents after Anthropic disclosed cases in which Claude accessed restricted information or carried out actions without proper authorisation.The Election Commission of India (ECI) has told the Supreme Court that all three orders relating to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls were unanimous decisions of the Commission, while arguing that a petition challenging the functioning of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is not maintainable.

In its counter-affidavit, the poll body said the petition was based entirely on a single news report. It also maintained that the affidavit had been unanimously approved by all three members of the Commission — the CEC and the two Election Commissioners.

The Commission said the three SIR orders, issued in June 2025, October 2025 and May 2026, were unanimous decisions.

It clarified that notes, queries or suggestions made by the CEC or Election Commissioners during the processing of files should not be construed as decisions of the Commission. According to the affidavit, files are examined by one Election Commissioner and then the other before being placed before the CEC. In urgent cases, approval is obtained electronically, with the decision recorded on the file subsequently.

The EC warned that action would be taken against any officer issuing orders beyond their delegated powers.

On Form 6 and the declaration required under the SIR process, the Commission said Form 6 had not been amended and could be changed only by the Centre. It maintained that the SIR declaration was a separate document.

The poll body acknowledged, however, that the online display could be interpreted as an amendment to Form 6. It said that from October 21, the online application process would be divided into Form 6 and the declaration to align it with the physical form.

The Commission also said voters who could not be mapped during the SIR exercise would not necessarily have to attend hearings in person. Booth Level Officers (BLOs) would collect documents from their homes, while hearings would be held only in exceptional cases and, preferably, online.

On the ECINet platform, the EC said no voter's name could be added to or deleted from the electoral roll without an order from the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO). It added that a committee comprising experts from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) had been constituted to examine compliance.

Citing Goa, the Commission said that of the 97 voters described as having been left out, 88 had already been enrolled, six were abroad and three held Portuguese passports.

On appeals challenging the inclusion of voters in West Bengal, the EC said the cases had been filed by officers from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in compliance with Supreme Court orders. The Commission said the matters had not been brought before it.

The EC further stated that it had neither released nor authorised the release of any internal note or file to the media. It also referred to earlier Supreme Court decisions rejecting repeated challenges to Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Arguing that the plea seeking to restrain the CEC was not maintainable, the Commission said the CEC could be removed only through a process similar to that applicable to a Supreme Court judge.

The EC said it had filed a short reply because of the Dussehra vacation and sought the court's permission to submit a detailed, paragraph-wise response.