THE CONGRESS on Saturday termed the Election Commission’s statement on concerns over SIR exercise as “wishy-washy” and said the poll panel was in a “damage-control mode after causing massive damage to democracy”.Congress MP and general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X: “It (EC) has just issued a wishy-washy Press Note that raises further questions on its intent, integrity, impartiality and credibility.”The senior Congress leader was reacting to the EC’s statement which came following The Indian Express investigation on notes of dissent by the two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, on SIR-related steps taken by the poll panel.Also Read | Election Commission’s nine new decisions: What changes and what doesn’tRamesh said the EC does not “directly deny the (Indian Express) story or its findings”. “It makes a defensive attempt to downplay the same in paragraph 3(i) and 3(ii) but does not say that the allegations are baseless,” said Ramesh in a statement on behalf of the Congress.WATCH | Election Commission Investigation: Ritika Chopra Answers All Your Questions On ECI Investigation“Second, in the case of Goa [where 97 voters’ names had been deleted despite them being eligible for inclusion], after having been caught out, the EC has sheepishly stated that Form 6 has already been filled out for inclusion by 81 of the 97 deleted voters. To put this another way, you disenfranchise voters through a broken and corrupt system, and when caught, you say that they are being added back,” said the Congress MP.In his third point, Ramesh said the EC statement “seeks to justify the Commission’s actions by appealing to the Order of the Supreme Court dated May 27, 2026”.Story continues below this adCiting the EC’s decision to extend deadlines for voter registration in Delhi and Maharashtra, he asked what about the voters of Karnataka, Telangana, Bihar and West Bengal. “Do the voters of these and other states who were deleted due to one man’s corruption not deserve answers?”Ramesh also said the EC avoided “questions regarding the deliberate targeting of Gen Z voters”. “The ECI has no answer for its targeted disenfranchisement, beginning mid-July 2026 through wholly illegal changes made to Form 6 (unseen and unapproved by Parliament) which placed an unfair burden on them to find and disclose their parents and/or grandparents’ details,” read the statement.Also Read | CEC must go, Supreme Court should act, pause SIR: Opposition after Election Commission divide out in openThe Congress said the CEC thinks he can hide behind “bureaucratise” and protocol. “He (Gyanesh Kumar) stands exposed and is now petrified as an entire country seeks to hold him accountable.”Congress’ head of media and publicity department Pawan Khera said: “The ECI’s press note is too lame, too little, too late.”Story continues below this adKhera said the EC statement still leaves several questions unanswered, even as it does not address the objections raised by two ECs on alterations in Form 6 for new voters.“That objection was not resolved then… And this ‘mother of all objections’ has still not been addressed — even after today’s so-called unanimous meeting. So until the ECI answers this specific legal objection, no length of press notes, no claim of unanimity or any other clownery can save Gyanesh Kumar Gupta’s face,” Khera said on X.Also read | Election Commissioners knocked on Cabinet Secretary’s door over voter software integrity“It is still not too late for him. He should resign and turn approver, or prepare for jail,” he said.Amid calls for the removal of the CEC, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that the poll panel chief was made in-charge of “match-fixing” India’s elections by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.Story continues below this adWATCH | Sukhbir Singh Sandhu & Vivek Joshi: Who Are The 2 ECs Who Objected To SIR?Gandhi levelled this allegation after sharing a post from Kerala Congress, which cited media reports claiming that Kumar, a former IAS officer, had told a former Kerala chief secretary to contest on a BJP ticket after his retirement. “First, Gyanesh Kumar – then a serving IAS officer – was used to recruit for the BJP… Then Modi and Shah made him the umpire and put him in charge of match-fixing India’s elections,” Gandhi alleged in a post on X.There was no immediate response from CEC Kumar on the claims made by Gandhi or Kerala Congress.