New Delhi: Exactly a month after the Indian Express first reported that two out of the three Election Commissioners had objected 14 times in 10 months to the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar is yet to break his silence on serious questions over his role and irregularities in how work was conducted within the commission.Kumar, facing growing calls for his resignation, with street protests from the opposition and student groups, has not been seen in public since, despite his otherwise larger-than-life presence ever since he took the CEC’s job. Kumar previously presided over a contentious press conferences where he aggressively sought affidavits from opposition leaders after they alleged there had been vote theft and questioned the SIR process.Yet Kumar has not addressed the media or the allegations made by his two colleagues, Election Commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu. Instead, the Election Commission has communicated only through press notes over the last month, through which it has announced a slew of reversals in how it has been conducting the SIR – including changes to how Form 6 is to be used, on the inclusion of new voters, machine-readable PDFs of electoral rolls, special drives to include left-out voters and hearings for the SIR-affected.Also read: How EC Has Quietly Changed Form 6 During SIR, Evading ParliamentThese series of measures announced by the commission has raised more questions about whether the SIR exercise is, in effect, being withdrawn under public scrutiny and uproar – without actually admitting fault and calling for a proper scrutiny.Kumar’s absence from public eye stark due to otherwise prominent presenceKumar’s absence from the public eye in the last month becomes clear upon looking at the X (formerly Twitter) page of the Election Commission. Prior to the Indian Express report published on September 23, Kumar’s photographs appeared routinely as he met foreign delegates and addressed Election Commission events in various cities.Just a day before the report, multiple photos of Kumar were posted with the Ambassador of Moldova, Philippines, Kyrgyz Republic to India.Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar met His Excellency Askar Beshimov, Ambassador of Kyrgyz Republic to India at Nirvachan Sadan, New Delhi, on Septemer 21, 2026. Kumar is also chairman of the Council of Member States of International IDEA. Credit: Election commission of India on X/@ECISVEEPOn September 17 and 18, the ECI again posted multiple photos and videos of Kumar’s visit to Bhutan. On September 15, photos were posted of Kumar’s meeting with the Ambassador of Norway, while on September 14, more photos were posted of his visit to Bhutan.Prior to that, between September 10–12, multiple photos and videos of him addressing a conference in Ahmedabad were posted.On September 9, they were of Kumar meeting the ambassadors of Italy and the Dominican Republic, while on September 2 and 3, videos were posted of his visit to Goa. And again, on September 1, photos of his meeting with the Ambassador of Netherlands appeared on the official handle.Since September 22, no images have been posted on the ECI’s X page, while Kumar’s events in Uttar Pradesh were postponed due to “logistical reasons” while another trip to Chhattisgarh was cancelled citing “unavoidable reasons.”This is in sharp contrast to the situation until August, when ANI covered even his personal visits made to a temple.Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Kalighat Kali Temple, Kolkata, Monday, March 9, 2026. He faced “go back” slogans and black flags during his visit. Photo: Swapan Mahapatra/PTI.No press conferences, only press releasesThe CEC had last year addressed at least two aggressive press conferences while the SIR was on in full swing. One was in October, after the Bihar SIR, in which he did not provide any details about the number of “illegal immigrants” found on the electoral roll. Nor was a reason given for having deleted 47 lakh voters in the state.In another press conference, in August, Gyanesh Kumar aggressively attacked opposition parties for “misleading” the public on the SIR, and issued an unprecedented ultimatum to Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, demanding proof for his allegations of “vote theft” in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency in a sworn affidavit or to “apologise to the nation within seven days”.Since the revelations via RTI of the detailed on-record objections of the two Election Commissioners Joshi and Sandhu, as well as of numerous other irregularities in the SIR process repeatedly coming to light, Kumar is yet to issue a statement on his own.The Election Commission’s office in New Delhi, meanwhile, has been put behind a wall of police barricades. A united opposition march to the poll body’s office on October 2, demanding a meeting with the commission’s top brass, was met with silence. Dozens of opposition leaders including LoP Rahul Gandhi were detained.Civil-society delegations that sought to meet the Election Commissioner were also not allowed. While protests continued on the streets, the Delhi Police, under the Union home ministry, responded with brutality and large-scale detentions, including of opposition leaders.Neither have the three members of the Election Commission come together to address a press conference – not even to show that unanimity exists within the body, as the law requires.Independent journalist Narendra Nath, citing top sources on Ravish Kumar’s show, revealed that despite a Union minister promising Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the three election commissioners would jointly address a press conference at the exact time that Gandhi was planning to march with INDIA bloc MPs from Parliament House to the President of India with a memorandum, the two election commissioners refused point blank.Instead of a press conference, only two press notes have been issued, one on September 23, saying all decisions have been unanimous, and the other on September 26, which said that a full meeting of the commission was held, and then announced the slew of reversals, including on Form 6 and assuring “hearings” to those left out in the SIR process, among other measures.Slew of reversals in SIRThe Election Commission continues to announce a slew of reversals in the SIR process, almost daily.In its September 26, press note, in a show of transparency, the Election Commission said that meeting agendas would be circulated in advance and minutes issued afterwards. It also said that foreign visits by commission officials would require the body’s formal approval. It ordered a review of the ECINet platform, which has come under scrutiny for its centralised controls over the election process.Also read: Under Gen Z Fire Since Revelation of Internal Dissent on SIR, ECI Falls Back on Tried-and-Tested SSRCrucially, while Joshi and Sandhu have recorded on file that Form 6 (the form used for inclusion of new voters and for those excluded from SIR to try to return to the electoral roll) was changed “illegally”, it was later said that this form would only apply during the SIR period. While it also claimed that the changed Form 6 had been upheld by the Supreme Court’s SIR judgment in May, The Wire has previously reported why this claim is not true.Subsequently, in October, the Election Commission again said in a press note that the number of Form 7 applications for deletions were being capped at 10 per individual during the claims and objections period of the SIR. This was done amidst reports of bulk filing of objections against registered voters.The poll body has also said that those who were issued notices for “logical discrepancies” would have a Booth Level Officer (BLO) visit their home and that voters would not be required to attend hearings, except in exceptional cases, and those hearings would preferably be held online.Also in October, it announced a “special drive” for new voters amidst reports that new voters had been left out. It also announced the next round of the Special Summary Revision (SSR) of electoral rolls – a routine process that had been halted for the past year due to the SIR.Further, it directed that the draft and final electoral rolls would be provided to political parties in readable PDF formats – a demand that had been raised repeatedly since the beginning of the SIR in Bihar.In addition, deadlines were extended for states where the SIR is ongoing, including in Delhi and Maharashtra.For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.