New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday sought responses from the Election Commission of India (ECI) and its senior officials on a petition filed by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notices to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi on the plea.
During the hearing, the bench orally remarked, “We would also ask one of the petitioners about his conduct,” while directing the respondents to submit their responses.
The petition challenges the legality of the SIR exercise and seeks disclosure of the Election Commission’s records, publication of details of deleted voters and safeguards against arbitrary removal of names from electoral rolls.
The petitioners have also sought a mechanism to restore deleted names, a judicial audit of the revision process and suspension of the exercise across states until the matter is decided.
The legal challenge follows an Opposition march towards the Supreme Court on October 12, led by Gandhi, against the electoral roll revision. Although Gandhi had intended to submit the petition personally, it was eventually filed through lawyers as the court registry was nearing closure.
The petition has been backed by several INDIA bloc leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut.
Other petitioners include Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader MA Baby, CPI leader D Raja, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Mahua Majhi, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Supriya Sule, IUML leader Mohammed Basheer, VCK president Thol. Thirumavalavan and former Jammu and Kashmir minister Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo.
The Supreme Court also issued notices on separate petitions challenging the SIR process filed by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.
