Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi addresses a press conference, in New Delhi, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025.
Credit: PTI Photo
Noting that a large number of urban local bodies in the country delays in urban local government (ULG) elections, a latest study report said that State Election Commissions (SECs) operate under “institutional constraints” and that a majority lack the authority to conduct ward delimitation and reservation.
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The Election Commission will hold an "unprecedented" press conference on Sunday, a day on which the I.N.D.I.A. bloc will launch its ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar. The poll body also sought to find fault with the opposition parties over the inaccuracies in the voters lists saying if they had raised the issues earlier, it could have been addressed much before.
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Seeking to counter opposition parties' allegations of fudging in voter data, the Election Commission (EC) on Saturday said it seems that some political parties did not examine the electoral rolls at the "appropriate time" to point out errors to the poll machinery and noted that it welcomes a scrutiny of the document to help its officials remove flaws.
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CEC Gyanesh Kumar said that the special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar is part of an electoral reform.
"EC exhorts all political parties to file claims, objections on draft electoral rolls in Bihar; 15 days still remaining," he said.
"EC's doors are open to everyone, booth level officers and agents working together in transparent manner," he added.
CEC asked should the poll body make the information of voters public? He was referring to the 'vote theft' allegations made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
"It is insult to Indian Constitution if election petition is not filed within 45 days but allegations of 'vote chori' are raised," he said.
On opposition demand of machine readable voter lists, the CEC said that the Supreme Court had in 2019 itself said that sharing of machine readable voter lists can breach voters' privacy.
CEC Gyanesh Kumar said that the poll body stands firm with the voters of the country.
The CEC said that LoP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was asked to submit a declaration under the oath because he raised discrepancies in the election process of a constituency from which he is not an elector and the allegations were made 45 days after the elections were concluded.
He cited law mandating the demand.
"It is a myth that SIR has been carried out in haste, it is EC's legal duty to correct voter lists before every election," the CEC said.
Explaining the voters who had House number 0 in the voter list, the CEC said that some families have not been allotted any house number by their municipality or panchayat officials. Such voters are asked to fill their address with 'House number 0'.
The CEC said that if Rahul Gandhi doesn't submit an affidavit on the vote theft charges within seven days, then the allegations will be considered baseless. 'Give affidavit or apologise,' he said.
He asked if the ECI should issue notice to 1.5 lakh voters without declaration under oath by the complainant?
"No elector's name will be removed from voter list without any proof; EC standing like a rock with every elector," CEC Gyanesh Kumar added.