Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and 10 other INDIA bloc leaders on Monday filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging large-scale voter deletions and irregularities in the process.
The petition was filed after Opposition leaders and supporters took out a “March for Democracy” towards the Supreme Court in Delhi, demanding action over alleged electoral irregularities.
The plea names 11 Opposition leaders as petitioners, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, CPI(M) leader M A Baby, CPI leader D Raja, JMM leader Mahua Majhi, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Supriya Sule and IUML leader E T Mohammed Basheer.
The petition challenges the decision to conduct the SIR exercise and seeks judicial scrutiny of its legality, alleging that the process has led to the exclusion of eligible voters from electoral rolls.
The Election Commission has been named as a respondent in the plea. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have also been named as respondents.
The development comes amid growing tensions between the Opposition and the poll body over the voter-list revision exercise. The Supreme Court is expected to consider related matters on October 13.
