The Election Commission dissent row, date by date

India's Election Commission has three members: Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. Since late September, the question of how those three take decisions has moved from the newspapers to the Supreme Court. The dates below are taken from press notes, court reports and the petitions, which are linked at the end.

Before the row

• 24 June 2025: the Commission orders a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, starting with Bihar.
• 27 October 2025: SIR schedule issued for 12 states and union territories.
• 14 May 2026: SIR schedule issued for 19 more states and union territories.
• 16 and 19 May 2026: according to the petitions now before the Supreme Court, Joshi objects to a proposed last-SIR question on Form 6 and Sandhu concurs.
• 27 May 2026: the Supreme Court, in Association for Democratic Reforms v Election Commission of India, upholds the Bihar SIR documentation framework.
• 28 to 30 July 2026: a work allocation order affecting oversight of the IT division is issued on 28 July; the two Election Commissioners write to the Cabinet Secretary on 29 July and issue a joint direction on 30 July. The Commission later says the order was never implemented.
• 14 August 2026: Sandhu records that statutory officers lack full access to the ECINet portal, according to the petitions.

The row breaks

• 23 September 2026: The Indian Express reports that Sandhu and Joshi objected on record 14 times in 10 months to steps taken in the Commission's name. The same day the Commission issues Press Note 119, saying differing views are "a normal part of deliberation" and that all decisions in the past year were unanimous.
• 26 September 2026: after a full Commission meeting, Press Note 120 announces nine decisions. Among them: agendas will be circulated in advance and minutes issued for every meeting; officers' foreign trips need the Commission's approval; a committee with an IIT or IIIT expert will review ECINet; and people served notices during SIR need not attend hearings in person, with booth level officers collecting documents at home instead. It also extends the Delhi claims period to 30 October.

In court

• 5 October 2026: the Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana issues notice to the Commission, the CEC and both Election Commissioners. It declines to suspend the CEC. The Chief Justice says: "No modified Form 6 has been approved by us."
• 14 October 2026: the ECINet compliance committee is constituted, with experts from IIT Bombay and IISc Bengaluru, according to the Commission's affidavit.
• 15 October 2026: the Commission issues instructions for a Special Summary Revision of rolls with 1 January 2027 as the qualifying date.
• 21 October 2026: the online Form 6 is split into two parts, the statutory form and a separate SIR declaration.
• 26 October 2026: the Commission files its counter affidavit, defending the SIR orders as unanimous and conceding that the online presentation of Form 6 could be read as an amendment.
• 28 October 2026: in the Delhi SIR case, the court questions why 43 lakh electors marked shifted or absent must apply on Form 6, and says the legality of the logical discrepancy category is undecided.
• 30 October 2026: the extended deadline for claims and objections in Delhi ends. Disposal of notices continues until 30 November.

Pending

The Delhi matter is listed after two weeks from 28 October. The Commission has said it may file a fuller reply in the CEC powers case. The ECINet committee's findings have not yet been published.

This timeline is updated when a new order or filing is on record.