The Indian National Congress on Saturday, 26 September 2026, escalated its assault on the Election Commission of India (ECI), reiterating its demand for the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and calling for the suspension of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Congress leader and General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh described the ECI's defensive press note — issued the same afternoon to quell reports of internal discord — as an admission by omission.

Congress dissects the ECI press note

In a post on X, Ramesh offered a point-by-point rebuttal of the ECI's six-paragraph response, arguing that the commission had failed to directly deny media reports alleging sharp disagreements among Election Commissioners over the SIR process. He noted that the press note had instead made what he called a 'defensive attempt to downplay' the findings in paragraphs 3(i) and 3(ii), without declaring the underlying allegations baseless.

On the specific case of Goa, Ramesh argued that the ECI's admission — that Form 6 had already been filled out by 81 of the 97 deleted voters — amounted to an indirect concession. 'You disenfranchise voters through a broken and corrupt system, and when caught, say that they are being added back,' he said.

Supreme Court order and accountability

Ramesh rejected the ECI's appeal to a Supreme Court order dated 27 May 2026, saying it predated the recent revelations and could not shield the CEC from what the Congress characterised as 'the malicious deletion of targeted voters.' He further questioned the partial relief offered by deadline extensions for voter registration in Delhi and Maharashtra, asking why voters deleted from rolls in Karnataka, Telangana, Bihar, and West Bengal were excluded from the same remedies.

Gen Z voters and Form 6 changes

A central plank of the Congress's charge sheet was the alleged targeting of first-time, younger voters. Ramesh alleged that changes to Form 6 — which he claimed were made unilaterally starting mid-July 2026 without parliamentary approval — imposed an additional burden on Gen Z applicants to furnish details of their parents and grandparents. The ECI's press note, he contended, had no answer for this specific allegation.

On the proposed involvement of IIT/IIIT experts to review the ECINET portal, Ramesh dismissed the measure as 'a meaningless safeguard,' arguing that the core concern was not technical soundness but centralisation that prevents voter additions at the ground level — a concern he said was borne out by reportage on the two other Election Commissioners' positions.

Congress's bottom line

'The ongoing SIR, which has turned out to be a method of massive disenfranchisement of several crores of Indians, must be suspended immediately without delay. In the meantime, nothing short of the CEC's resignation or prosecution will suffice,' Ramesh said. He added that Kumar 'stands exposed and is now petrified as an entire country seeks to hold him accountable.' The ECI had not issued a further response to the Congress's rebuttal at the time of reporting.

This comes amid growing opposition pressure on the election body ahead of several state assembly cycles, with the SIR controversy threatening to become a sustained political fault line over electoral integrity.