A public interest litigation (PIL) petition has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking action against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged decisions taken by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls despite objections from two of the three Election Commissioners.
The petition has been filed days after a report by The Indian Express said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over decisions and orders concerning SIR.
According to a report by Bar & Bench, the plea filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi has sought a direction declaring all decisions taken by the ECI without the concurrence of a majority of Election Commissioners as illegal and void.
The petitioner has sought a declaration that all decisions, guidelines, directives and software modifications "initiated, approved, or implemented" under CEC Gyanesh Kumar without full Commission concurrence or contrary to the majority opinion of the Election Commissioners under Section 18 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, be declared unconstitutional, ultra vires and void ab initio, Bar & Bench reported.
The plea has also sought action against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Manish Garg and Director General (Information Technology) of the ECI Seema Khanna.
It has sought directions to the competent statutory authority to register complaints and initiate prosecution under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, against the respondents and other officers found guilty of deliberate breach of official duty, according to Bar & Bench.
As per the petition, official files allegedly revealed that over a 10-month period between November 2025 and August 2026, two Election Commissioners, Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi, formally recorded written dissents and objections on at least 14 occasions against decisions allegedly taken and executed in the name of the Commission without authorisation. The petition claimed that four such objections were recorded on a single day.
The petitioner has also sought a probe by a judicial inquiry commission or a special investigation team (SIT) into the alleged deletion of 13 crore voters from electoral rolls during the SIR exercise.
The plea has further sought restoration of statutory Form 6 prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and permission for all eligible adults to register as voters on the basis of the original statutory requirements.
The petition was filed through advocate Chand Qureshi, according to Bar & Bench.
(This is a developing story)
