Alleged centralisation of voter list control sparks controversy

Surjewala highlighted that the control over the electoral roll database appears to have been consolidated at the top of the commission. He argued that this centralisation dilutes the authority of local officials who traditionally manage voter registration and verification.

Citing West Bengal, he noted that more than 1.6 million appeals have been filed against existing entries, while the commission informed the Supreme Court of a total of 3.831 million petitions across the state – 2.221 million for name additions and 1.610 million for deletions.

The Congress leader called for an immediate cessation of the SIR exercise in all states, a comprehensive review of the 13 crore names removed since June 2025, restoration of statutory powers to election functionaries, and an independent IT and cyber‑forensic audit of the voter database.