On the ECINet platform, access for states can be turned off and on centrally: report

According to a report authored by Saurav Rajput, a data scientist and alumnus of IIT Delhi and IIM Calcutta, ECINET has a dedicated state node management area (create, manage, update) with built-in deactivation. | Photo credit: ANI

ECINet, a comprehensive digital platform of the Election Commission of India (ECI), has a feature to display state-by-state enumeration form details. This means access for State Nodal Officers (SNOs) could be shut down at any time, making it a centralized platform, according to an audit by civic technology initiative ‘Charchagram’.

The report assumes importance in view of the objections raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi regarding the centralization of ECINet and the electoral roll database.

Also read | Congress accuses Election Commission of ‘lying’ on ECINet; looking for responsibility

Enable, disable buttons

For access at the state level, ECINET has an SNO module behind the official login. Each SNO row has a disable button and the disable popup says “Disabling this state node will prevent the user from accessing the application.”

Separately, the code has a message: “View enumeration form details not allowed for selected state”. This effectively means that viewing of the enumeration form can be turned on or off on a state-by-state basis, which in turn means that access for State Nodal Officers (SNOs) can be turned off.

“ECINET has a dedicated SNO (create, manage, update) management area with a built-in disable action. Its confirmation text warns that once SNO is disabled, the user no longer has access to the application. It appears to be a complete block at the account level. The text does not describe a partial restriction or role downgrade.”

The feature can be turned on and off for each state and in states where it is not enabled, officials will see the message “View enumeration form details not allowed for selected state” instead of the form details.

Also read | ECINET’s new capabilities accelerate the disposal of SIR notifications, but several EROs split on cases of paperless clearing

The portal was launched in January

Although it was not clear since when this feature has been available on ECINet, it may be recalled that the portal itself was launched in January 2026. ECINET is a single ECI portal for officials. It brings together many small applications under one login such as user management, ERONET, RTI module and Enumeration Form Tracker for SIR. Mr. Rajput said he can find the post from September 28.

Officials log in using the Official Login option at the top right. After logging in, they get many options and features that we don’t see without an account.

Some of its functions, options, and text elements that are located behind the official login can be seen and understood from the front-end code.

The login page loads a large JavaScript file before anyone logs in. Anyone can open it. Some of them contain official-only labels, menu names, screen routes, and API paths, but can be read by anyone publicly.

“We’re only reading the files that the web serves to everyone. Ideally, we should be able to load the code of functions that are only available on the screen. But even here, some of the functions that are behind the credentials are available in the front-end code,” he said.

The audit says ECINET also includes a feature that can prevent Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant EROs (AEROs) in West Bengal only from checking voter roll forms and displaying information and hearing panel.

The Congress party said, “It is now well established how (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on the behest and instructions of Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and HM (Amit Shah) introduced ECINET to centralize all manipulations of the election process.

“The law provides that EROs have statutory authority over the electoral roll. But across the country, the ECINET system and the Election Commission’s IT division have overridden and violated these safeguards,” Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

Published – 20 October 2026 21:55 IST