" The CEC thinks he can hide behind ‘bureaucratise’ and protocol. "" The Election Commission is in damage control mode after it has already caused massive damage to our democracy.

It has just issued a wishy-washy Press Note that raises further questions on its intent, integrity, impartiality and credibility," said Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on X, while sharing his full response to the EC press note. He raised 6 points in his statement as below: First, the Press note does not directly deny the story or its findings.

It makes a defensive attempt to downplay the same in paragraph 3(i) and 3(ii) but does not say that the allegations are baseless. Second, in the case of Goa, after having been caught out the ECI has sheepishly stated that Form 6 has already been filled out for inclusion by 81 of the 97 deleted voters.

To put this another way, you disenfranchise voters through a broken and corrupt system, and when caught say that they are being added back. Third, it seeks to justify the Commissions actions by appealing to the Order of the Supreme Court dated May 27th, 2026.

The Order which was pronounced well before the recent revelations will not save the CEC for the malicious deletion of targeted voters, for the incompetence that has resulted in citizens being wiped off the roles, for the crores lost in both expenses and man-hours due to the confusion and harassment caused to entire families. Fourth, it extends the deadlines for voter registration in Delhi and Maharashtra.

But what happens to the voters of Karnataka and Telangana? What happens to the voters disenfranchised in Bihar and West Bengal?

Do the voters of these and other states who were deleted due to one man’s corruption not deserve answers? Fifth, the Press Release also states the ECI will now involve experts from IIT/IIIT to review the ECINET portal and submit a report to ensure it complies with rules.

Aside from being a meaningless safeguard (since the concern is not about the technical soundness but rather the centralization which prevents voter addition at ground level) this confirms the concerns attributed to the two other Election Commissioners per the reportage. Sixth, the Press Note avoids answering the questions regarding the deliberate targeting of Gen Z voters.

The ECI has no answer for its targeted disenfranchisement, beginning mid-July 2026 through wholly illegal changes made to Form 6 (unseen and unapproved by Parliament) which placed an unfair burden on them to find and disclose their parents and/or grandparents’ details. Further continuing the party's "vote chori" allegations, he added, " The revelations regarding (1) the unilateral nature of decision making by the CEC, (2) his open hatred and bias against the Opposition resulting in a clear bias, (3) his willing participation and abetment in Vote Chori by the ruling regime, (4) his specific attack to prevent the enrollment of Gen Z voters, (5) his corruption exposed ironically by his negligence in purging and pruning voter lists, needs to be answered for."