Congress leader Dr Ajoy Kumar on Saturday filed a police complaint at Golmuri Police Station against Election Commission of India (ECI) Director General (IT) Dr Seema Khanna, alleging "unauthorised centralisation" of electoral data and the deletion of lakhs of voters' names from the rolls.
The complaint, dated October 3 and addressed to the officer-in-charge, seeks an FIR under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000. Kumar, a former IPS officer, former MP and Congress national spokesperson, says the alleged erasure of voter data is "a direct attack on electoral fairness."
Kumar said: "I have filed a complaint at Golmuri Police Station in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, against Dr. Seema Khanna, DG (IT) of the Election Commission of India (ECI). Unauthorised centralisation of electoral data through ECINet and ERONet, stripping local Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) of their legal powers, and misusing TCS to erase the names of lakhs of legitimate voters from the voter list constitute a direct assault on democracy."
The complaint comes amid a national row over the ECI's electoral roll software. ERONet was rolled out in 2017-18, while ECINet was launched in January 2026 as a unified platform that integrates ERONet with more than 40 other ECI applications. According to the ECI, ERONet replaced 36 separate systems and databases that states were using to manage electoral rolls.
What the complaint alleges
{{/usCountry}}The complaint comes amid a national row over the ECI's electoral roll software. ERONet was rolled out in 2017-18, while ECINet was launched in January 2026 as a unified platform that integrates ERONet with more than 40 other ECI applications. According to the ECI, ERONet replaced 36 separate systems and databases that states were using to manage electoral rolls.
What the complaint alleges
{{/usCountry}}Kumar's complaint lists five alleged offences. The first is unauthorised data centralisation through ECINet and ERONet. It cites Sections 318, 336, and 340 of the BNS, which deal with cheating and forgery, including forgery of electronic records.
The second alleges that software locks stripped EROs of their powers to verify and update voter records. The third alleges Khanna misused vendor Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to bypass administrative channels and alter online registration systems, including Form 6. It cites Sections 72 and 72A of the IT Act, which cover breach of confidentiality and unauthorised disclosure.
The fourth alleges that lakhs of names were arbitrarily and selectively deleted from voter lists across regions without due process or verification. The word lakhs implies at least 2 lakh, or 200,000, but the complaint gives no figure, state or constituency breakdown. The ECI said in December 2025 that more than 50.94 crore enumeration forms were distributed in the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). At 2 lakh, the alleged deletions equal about 0.04 per cent of that figure. The fifth allegation says the manipulation compromises the integrity of elections.
Kumar asks the police to register an FIR, probe the ECI-TCS chain of command and secure all digital audit records, citing the risk that electronic logs and vendor code records could be tampered with.
Adding on, Kumar said "millions of names have been arbitrarily removed from the voter lists," calling it "a direct attack on democracy and electoral fairness."
Kumar also appealed to the party's units in Telangana, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu to "immediately take legal action" against Khanna and file FIRs to secure their states' voter lists. There was no immediate response from the ECI, Khanna or TCS. Khanna has earlier said the platform will enhance transparency, credibility and public trust.
ECI explanation
The ECI issued an explanatory press note on September 23 on the functioning of ECINet, saying that the software itself is not meant to decide who stays on or gets removed from a voter list—that decision legally belongs entirely to the human ERO
But National Herald reported that it did not address concerns about the role of the DG (IT). The Congress, AAP, Samajwadi Party and TMC have all targeted Khanna and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the issue.
Kumar thanked the East Singhbhum SSP for taking "immediate cognisance" and directing swift action. "Our fight to protect the integrity of democracy and the rights of voters will continue," he said.