The Congress on Sunday accused the Election Commission of hiding information about the controversial ECINET software and claimed that the poll body is repeatedly refusing to provide this because it will reveal the reality of the "massive, centralised manipulation" that has taken place in the "disastrous" SIR.
The opposition party also reiterated the demand that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar must go as well as the SIR be suspended forthwith.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared a media report which claimed that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has declined to disclose the name and version of the software it used to identify errors and anomalies in voter rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, stating that the information relates to "commercial confidence, trade secrets and intellectual property" and is exempt under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
In his post on X, Ramesh said the Election Commission of India continues to "hide" information about the controversial ECINET software at the "heart of the disastrous SIR, that has been used to centralise manipulation of the electoral rolls".
"Today, a leading national daily revealed that the ECI has refused to provide information on the software being used in the SIR in its response to a Right to Information (RTI) application. Using flimsy excuses, the ECI has refused to name the software being used in the SIR, or confirm whether AI is being used and what safeguards are in place," Ramesh said.
The lack of transparency around the ECINET software and the use of AI has damaged the credibility of the entire process among citizens, he said.
The ECI is repeatedly refusing to provide this information because it will reveal the reality of the massive, centralised manipulation that has taken place, Ramesh said.
Why did Indians find out from disclosures of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) that they developed the ECINET software and why has this not been transparently disclosed by the ECI, he asked.
Why has the ECI repeatedly denied the use of AI in the SIR and electoral roll revision, when it is clearly being used, Ramesh questioned.
The ECINET software and the IT Division of the ECI were the focus of several objections raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, he pointed out.
The complaints even reached the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which comes under the prime minister himself, he said.
"The public knows that massive manipulation has taken place. Gyanesh Kumar must go. The SIR must be suspended forthwith," Ramesh said.
Ramesh's remarks come amid a raging row after The Indian Express reported that election commissioners Sandhu and Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders mostly related to the process of the SIR of electoral rolls.
The EC has said that differing views and observations are a part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.