Swatantra Bharat
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  1. The referee

    • From 1950, Article 324(2) left the appointment of Election Commissioners to the President, "subject to the provisions of any law made in that behalf by Parliament", and in practice the President acted… For how many years did that article wait for a law?
    • In March 2023 a five-judge bench set a three-member panel to pick Election Commissioners: the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India.
    • Ten months later, a law replaced the Chief Justice on that panel with a Union minister named by the Prime Minister. Of three seats, how many does the government now fill?
    • In February 2025 the new panel chose its first Chief Election Commissioner.
    • In May 2025 the Commission announced ECINet, one platform to absorb over 40 of its apps, among them ERONET, the system Electoral Registration Officers use for roll applications, and the BLO App. Does "authorized ECI official" mean the Electoral Registration Officer named in Section 13B, or any officer the Commission authorises?
    • In late November 2025 the Millennium Post reported that booth-level officers across West Bengal were struggling to upload enumeration forms because the BLO app server had been unstable since 26 Novemb… For forms not digitised by the final enumeration deadline, did the elector go into the draft roll or out of it, and was a count published?
    • Goa's final roll on 21 February 2026 left out 97 electors whom its Electoral Registration Officers had found eligible after hearings ordered by the Supreme Court. What did the IT division do with that instruction before the roll was published, and is it on record?
    • On 23 September 2026 The Indian Express reported that two Election Commissioners had put objections on record at least 14 times in 10 months to decisions issued in the Commission's name. If every decision was unanimous, at what stage were the 14 recorded objections resolved, and does the Commission's record show it?
    • On 24 September 2026, a day after the report, Commission officials citing official documents said ECINet is "a decentralised platform" and "No one else can perform their statutory functions on ECINet,… Which of the two accounts does the Goa electoral record support?
    • The same day Maharashtra's Chief Electoral Officer wrote to the Commission seeking ECINet changes during the SIR notice phase, The Indian Express reported, including an "Exempted from Hearing" option,… Before 26 September, which order or instruction, if any, set the options that menu gave EROs?
    • Three days later, after a meeting of all three Commissioners, the Commission announced with "the unanimous approval of the Commission" a review of its ECINet platform, and agendas and minutes for all… Before 26 September 2026, how many Commission meetings had circulated agendas and issued minutes?
    • During hearings on 29 and 30 September 2026, a Bombay High Court bench in Goa, hearing a Santa Cruz family whose names were deleted after their Form 8 address change could not be processed, said the E… A name restored through Form 6 is entered as a new elector: does the roll record how the original entry was deleted, and whether a hearing under Rule 21A was held?
    • On 5 October 2026 the Supreme Court issued notice on petitions alleging that 14 decisions were taken in the Commission's name despite the recorded objections, and declined to suspend the Chief Electio… Will the two Commissioners' recorded objections on the 14 decisions be placed before the Court with the replies?
    • Minutes of an 11 August 2026 meeting, reported by The Indian Express on 6 October, record at least 12 of the 19 judges heading West Bengal's SIR appellate tribunals saying the ECINet portal gave them… Since those minutes, has the portal been changed to let a tribunal restore a deleted voter?
    • On 8 October 2026 the Hindustan Times reported that a researcher had emailed CERT-In on 8 July, copying the Commission, about ECINet flaws, including a server that returned election officials' names a… Will the ECINet review committee announced on 26 September publish its findings, and will they address these reports?
  2. The rules

    • The same Act carried a clause, added by amendment in the Rajya Sabha and absent from the 1991 Act it replaced, that bars courts from hearing civil or criminal proceedings against a serving or former C… What does "purporting to act" in official duty cover that acting in it does not?
    • In December 2024, on the Commission's recommendation, five words were added to the rule on which election papers the public may inspect; officials named a High Court order to release Haryana poll reco… Which papers does "as specified in these rules" now leave out, and who decides?
    • A petition against the amendment was filed on 24 December 2024, and the Supreme Court issued notice in January 2025.
    • On 31 January 2025, hearing a challenge to raising the number of voters per polling station, the Supreme Court directed that the Commission "shall maintain the CCTVs from which the videos are recorded…
    • In May 2025 the Commission set 45 days as the period to keep CCTV, webcast and video of the polls, after which footage may be destroyed where no election petition is filed. Did the May letter refer to the Court's 31 January direction to maintain the CCTVs "as they were doing earlier"?
    • On 1 August 2025 the Law Minister told the Lok Sabha, citing the Commission, that poll footage "is akin to giving Form 17A (Register of Voters) live" and can be given only on a competent court's order… The question had also asked whether parties were consulted: which line of the answer addresses that?
    • At a press conference on 17 August 2025 the Chief Election Commissioner asked, "Should anybody's CCTV footage, including your mothers, daughters, daughters-in-law be made public?", and on 6 October sa…
    • As reported on 12 November 2025, the Commission told the Delhi High Court, in a petition seeking preservation of poll footage, that 2024 Lok Sabha CCTV footage in Delhi "already stands destroyed" unde… On what date was the footage destroyed, and had that petition been filed by then?
    • In January 2026 the Supreme Court issued notice on a challenge to Section 16 and declined to stay it; in September a two-judge bench split on sending the challenge to the selection law to a Constituti…
    • For the 2026 West Bengal election, webcasting was made mandatory in every polling booth, and the Commission said a re-poll would be considered wherever it was not conducted. With every booth webcast, how long was that footage kept for seats where no election petition was filed?
    • On 30 April 2026 the Trinamool Congress said strongroom CCTV in Kolkata showed ballot boxes being opened; the Commission said postal ballots were being segregated as prescribed, and the state's Chief… Was the footage of the 30 April segregation still held once the 45-day period had passed?
  3. The revision

    • In June 2025 the Commission began a Special Intensive Revision of Bihar's rolls that required listed electors to submit documents; two weeks later the Supreme Court let it proceed and urged it to also… Which documents did the revision accept before the Court's urging?
    • The Bihar draft roll removed about 65 lakh names; the Court then directed that Aadhaar be accepted for inclusion, while clarifying that Aadhaar is not proof of citizenship. How many of those 65 lakh were back on the roll by the final list?
    • Bihar's final roll in September 2025 listed about 7.42 crore electors against 7.89 crore in June, after a further 3.66 lakh removals and 21.53 lakh additions.
    • On 27 October 2025 the Chief Election Commissioner extended the revision to 12 States and Union Territories with 51 crore voters, with draft rolls due on 9 December and final rolls on 7 February 2026. In how many of the 12 was the final roll published on 7 February 2026?
    • West Bengal's draft roll listed 7,08,16,630 of 7,66,37,529 electors; 58,20,899 forms were recorded as not received, for death, absence or shifting, enrolment elsewhere and other reasons.
    • Assam's Special Revision, a process distinct from the intensive revision in other states, deleted 10,56,291 names; The Tribune reported a draft roll of 2,51,09,754 electors, excluding 93,021 D-voters. The two published draft figures differ by 91,870, or by 1,151 if the 93,021 D-voters are counted: which electors does each figure include?
    • West Bengal's final roll came on 28 February 2026, listing 6,44,52,609 electors and marking 60,06,675 names "Under Adjudication". The second-phase schedule had set 7 February 2026 for final rolls; when was West Bengal's date moved to 28 February?
    • On 14 May 2026 the Commission announced a third phase in 16 States and three Union Territories with 36.7 crore voters, deferring Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh; nearly 59 crore elector… Across the phases, how many names left the rolls between the pre-revision roll and the final roll, state by state?
    • On 27 May 2026 the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Bihar revision, holding that a procedure different from routine roll revisions did not make it unconstitutional.
  4. The rolls

    • In June 2025 the Leader of the Opposition said 41 lakh voters were added in Maharashtra between the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly polls; the Commission called the charge "absurd" the same day and said t… By the Commission's count, how many names were added between the two 2024 polls?
    • Bihar's draft, 1 August 2025: 22.34 lakh left out as deceased, 36.28 lakh+ as shifted or not traced, 7 lakh+ in two constituencies. Of the 22.34 lakh left out as deceased, how many had a registered death on record, and how many rested on a booth-level officer's report alone?
    • Bihar CEO records: 3,66,742 names deleted from the draft roll; for 9,968, no death, relocation or duplication cited. On what ground was each of the 9,968 names removed?
    • On 5 November 2025 the Leader of the Opposition said about 25 lakh entries on Haryana's rolls for the 2024 assembly election were duplicate, non-existent or manipulated. How many of the about 25 lakh entries alleged on 5 November 2025 has the Commission checked against its roll?
    • Kerala: 89,907 removed in the January 2025 summary revision, dead and shifted together; 6,49,885 deceased in the December draft. How many names did Kerala's earlier summary revisions remove on grounds of death, year by year?
    • Second-phase drafts: 6.56 crore names removed in 12 States and UTs, 4.64 crore for shifting and 1.46 crore for death. Has the Commission published one consolidated table of these deletions by reason, state by state and phase by phase, and if so, where?
    • On 15 February 2026 the Commission suspended seven Assistant Electoral Registration Officers in West Bengal, citing "serious misconduct, negligence of duty, and abuse of lawful authority" in the revis… How many electors' entries were affected by those acts?
    • Of the 60,06,675 names marked "Under Adjudication" on the final roll, judicial officers deleted 27,16,393. How many of the rest were added back by supplementary list?
    • About 6.96 lakh voters were added through Form-6 before the polls, and the state's Chief Electoral Officer rebutted a Trinamool Congress allegation of improper additions. How were those 6.96 lakh split by age and gender, a break-up the Commission had not disclosed?
    • SRS 2024 crude death rate per 1,000: India 6.4; among the ten states here, from 4.5 in Delhi to 7.3 in Kerala. For each state, how many deaths of persons aged 18 and above did the Civil Registration System record between the last intensive revision and the present one, and how many deletions on grounds of death did the summary revisions make over the same years?
    • Delhi's draft left out 47,56,722; The Wire's count puts 66.42% as permanently shifted and 24.67% as untraceable or absent. Of the 31,59,223 marked permanently shifted, how many had ever filed Form 8 for a change of residence?
    • By its affidavit of 16 September 2026, the Commission told the Supreme Court that 1,02,231 of 38,20,683 appeals had been disposed of; earlier RTI data showed 75,443 of 82,782 appeals decided by 7 Augu… How many of the 1,02,231 disposed of were appeals against deletion?
    • A second Commission affidavit, filed on a Trinamool MP's application, gave the break-up: of 38,31,429 appeals, 22,21,118 were filed by voters whose names were deleted and 16,10,311 challenged the incl… Of the 16,10,311, how many were filed by election officials and how many by individuals?
    • On 5 October 2026, after the Supreme Court said that "any modification to Form 6 has not been approved by us", the Leader of the Opposition posted that the Chief Election Commissioner had changed Form… Who approved attaching that declaration, and on what date?
    • On 6 October 2026 West Bengal's Chief Electoral Officer published the list of voters removed as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate, saying "any person in this list may submit Form 6 online or through… How many of the 58,20,899 names left out of the December 2025 draft roll have since been re-enrolled through Form 6?
  5. The results

    • In the 2024 Lok Sabha election the BJP polled 36.56% of the vote and the Congress 21.19%.
    • The BJP won 240 of 543 seats and the Congress 99.
    • In the Odisha assembly election, counted on 4 June 2024 alongside the Lok Sabha, the BJD polled 40.22% of the vote and the BJP 40.07%.
    • The BJP won 78 of 147 seats and the BJD 51. How were the two parties' votes spread across the 147 constituencies, and by what margins were the seats won?
    • In Haryana in October 2024 the BJP polled 39.94% of the vote and the Congress 39.09%.
    • The BJP won 48 of 90 seats and the Congress 37. With 39.94% against 39.09% of the vote, what is the ratio between the vote-share gap and the seat gap?
    • In Maharashtra in November 2024 the BJP won 132 of 288 seats on 26.77% of the vote; the Congress won 16 on 12.42% and the Shiv Sena 57 on 12.38%.
    • Around the 2024 counts, opposition parties raised with the Commission the issues of postal ballots, EVM battery levels in Haryana and Maharashtra's roll additions.
    • In August 2025 the Leader of the Opposition alleged 1,00,250 irregular entries in Mahadevapura; the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer sought a signed declaration, and the Chief Election Commissioner s…
    • In Bihar in November 2025 the RJD polled the highest vote share, 23.00%, and won 25 seats; the BJP won 89 on 20.08% and the JD(U) 85 on 19.25%.
    • In West Bengal in May 2026, with 293 of 294 seats counted, the BJP polled 45.84% of the vote and the Trinamool Congress 40.80%, a difference of 32,11,427 votes.
    • Of the 293 seats counted, the BJP won 207 and the Trinamool Congress 80. With 45.84% against 40.80% of the vote, what is the ratio between the vote-share gap and the seat gap?
    • Suvendu Adhikari was sworn in as West Bengal Chief Minister on 1 June 2026.
    • On 10 June 2026 a fire in a Kolkata government building destroyed about 4,000 EVMs used in the 2026 West Bengal election; an FIR was registered, and the cause was under investigation. Had any election petition been filed over the ten constituencies these machines came from?
    • Four days later The Telegraph reported that the machines had been kept on the ninth floor of Alipore's New Administrative Building in a sub-divisional officer's custody, under CCTV and armed guard, an… Officials said a work order existed for IP cameras: were the cameras on the ninth floor IP cameras?
    • On 23 June the Calcutta High Court admitted Mamata Banerjee's petition against the Bhabanipur result and ordered the EVMs, VVPATs and CCTV footage preserved; on 8 September, in a petition over the 202… What record of segregation and movement existed for the machines on Alipore's ninth floor before 10 June?
    • A four-member Kolkata Police Special Investigation Team began work on 12 June; on 1 October, with officials saying the cause had not been established, Trinamool's Abhishek Banerjee said "nobody has be… Under the 45-day rule, was counting-centre footage still held on 1 October for any of the nearly 100 constituencies other than those under an election petition?