TMC's Saket Gokhale targets CEC, asks where he was registered as voter during 2002-03 SIR

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale on Monday claimed that though Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is listed as a voter in Delhi, his name was not found in previous SIR lists for Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Delhi, three states where he has lived and worked.

In a post on X, Gokhale, a former Rajya Sabha MP, said Kumar is shown as a voter in Delhi's electoral roll, registered as Gyanesh Kumar, son of Subodh Kumar.

He said Kumar was born in Uttar Pradesh, is a Kerala cadre officer, and has done postings in Delhi.


"If a person cannot be mapped to the last SIR in 2002/2003, they are flagged as a 'logical discrepancy' & receive a notice. Now, Gyanesh Kumar was born in UP, is a Kerala cadre IAS officer, and has done postings in Delhi," Gokhale said.

"So I searched for 'Gyanesh Kumar, son of Subodh Kumar' in the last SIR for these 3 states. Shockingly, in all 3 states, there is NOBODY registered as Gyanesh Kumar, son of Subodh Kumar in the last SIR," he claimed.

"Now, if such an entry doesn't exist in previous SIR, his current name on voter list should be flagged as a 'logical discrepancy' & he should've gotten a notice," he said, and asked: "Is CEC Gyanesh Kumar a citizen of India?"

Gokhale demanded that the poll panel clarify which state's previous SIR Gyanesh Kumar is marked in, and whether he was a registered voter.

"If he's missing from the last SIR in Kerala, Delhi, and UP, how is his name on the current voter list? Has Gyanesh Kumar received a notice for 'logical discrepancy' and for being an 'unmapped voter'?" he questioned.

"Thank you in advance for your clarification. The country must know," he added.

No immediate response was available from the Election Commission or the CEC.

The TMC leader's post comes amid controversies over several politicians and known personalities receiving notices as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter roll in Delhi.

Former deputy prime minister LK Advani, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar and Election Commissioner S S Sandhu are among the many prominent figures who have been issued notices for "discrepancies" in their details furnished under the SIR, officials said on Sunday.

The EC has issued a draft roll of over 97 lakh voters under the SIR, and is issuing notices to 33.13 lakh voters over "discrepancies" in the details they furnished in their enumeration forms.

Most notices were issued over a mismatch with information in the last SIR in 2002.