EC Refuses to Disclose SIR Software Details Citing Trade Secrets
· India · Times of India, Moneycontrol
The Election Commission has declined to reveal the name, version or algorithm of the software used for the SIR exercise to identify errors in voter rolls, citing trade secrets and intellectual property rights under the RTI Act. Social activist M A Mujeeb Ayyub had sought details on whether AI or automated systems flagged records for verification and the workflow following identification of anomalies. The EC stated no new software was developed for SIR and that EROs decide on elector inclusion based on existing records. It also noted that software and algorithm details are conventionally withheld in RTI responses, echoing refusals by EVM manufacturers like BEL and ECI to share source codes.
Why it matters
The secrecy prevents public verification of how voter roll errors are detected, undermining transparency in a critical electoral process that affects millions of Indian voters.
Read the original report — Times of India
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