New Delhi, Oct 15: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on a petition filed by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders challenging alleged large-scale voter deletions and irregularities in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
According to Bar & Bench, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi sought responses from the poll panel and the CEC and tagged the pleas with petitions already pending before the court challenging the validity of SIR in various states.
“We are issuing notice and tagging it with the matters already pending. Somebody will accept notice on behalf of the Election Commission of India. Otherwise, serve them,” the bench said.
The court also indicated that it would seek an explanation from one of the petitioners regarding his conduct at the next hearing, without specifying the person concerned.
“Issue notice. But one objection, before that. We would like to ask one of the petitioners about his conduct on the next date of hearing. Issuing notice does not mean that we are condemning anything. We are issuing notice. But about one of the petitioners, we will definitely entertain the issue. Issue notice. The notice on behalf of one of the petitioners will be entertained on a provisional basis, subject to his explaining his conduct,” the bench observed.
The petition has been filed by Rahul Gandhi along with several opposition leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, CPI(M) leader MA Baby and CPI leader D Raja.
Other petitioners include Mahua Majhi of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar faction) and Mohammed Basheer of the Indian Union Muslim League.
The petition challenges alleged large-scale deletions of voters and irregularities in the SIR process and seeks judicial intervention in the exercise. Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders had marched to the Supreme Court on October 12 before filing the plea. The development comes amid protests in Delhi against the SIR exercise, with demonstrators also demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
The protests followed an Indian Express report alleging that Kumar had taken several decisions relating to the revision exercise unilaterally despite objections from two Election Commissioners. The allegations have added to opposition concerns over the conduct of the electoral roll revision.
Several protesters were detained by Delhi Police over the weekend after prohibitory orders were imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). The detentions have also led to petitions before the Supreme Court, including allegations that lawyers and journalists were prevented from performing their professional duties.
The Supreme Court’s notice seeks responses from the poll panel on the issues raised. By tagging the fresh petitions with matters already pending on SIR, the court has brought the latest challenge into the existing proceedings on the electoral roll revision exercise.
