The Election Commission has told the Centre that it wants to vet social science textbooks of the National Council of Educational Research and Training for factual mistakes and infirmities, The Print reported on Thursday.

The poll body has said that it wants to check the books for “correctness and relevance” and claimed that the existing content does not prepare students to make “ethical ballot decisions”.

Among the passages in which the poll body has suggested amendments are chapters deleted from Class 6 and Class 10 textbooks by the National Council of Educational Research and Training in 2022. The educational body had deleted the chapters ostensibly to reduce the academic burden on students amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The deleted chapters are “Key Elements of a Democratic Government” in Class 6 and “Popular Struggles and Movements” in Class 10.

On the chapter in the Class 6 textbook, the Election Commission said that the “elaboration of conflict is totally unnecessary at this tender age”. With respect to the chapter in the Class 10 book, it contended that the extract spoke “much about conflicts, struggles, popular movements, agitations”, but not as much about involving young people in “citizenship development for electoral participation”, according to The Print.

The chapter in the Class 6 book spoke about the concepts of equality and discrimination, and made references to the apartheid in South Africa as well as movements led by Dalits, Adivasis and minorities. The deleted chapter in the Class 10 book referred to the National Alliance for People’s Movements led by activist Medha Patkar as well as anti-monarchy protests in Nepal.

The Election Commission has been engaging in correspondence with the ministry of human resource development since 2016 in connection with its proposal to suggest amendments to the textbooks, The Print reported, citing official records. In 2020, the ministry of human resource development was renamed as the ministry of education.