NEW DELHI: A writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to declare as unconstitutional and ultra vires all decisions and software modifications allegedly initiated or approved by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar without the concurrence or majority opinion of the Election Commission.
The petition, filed by lawyer Shailendra Mani Tripathi, seeks quashing of the alleged unauthorised modifications made to Form 6 on the ECINet/ERONet portal requiring ancestry and last-SIR declarations.
It also seeks directions to immediately restore the statutory Form 6 prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and allow all eligible adults to register as voters under the original statutory requirements.
Tripathi has sought a declaration that the decisions are illegal, restoration of the original Form 6, and an SIT inquiry into the alleged deletion of 13 crore voters from the electoral rolls.
The petition also seeks prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg and ECI IT Head Seema Khanna for alleged violation of duties under the Representation of the People Act.
It further seeks quashing of 16.10 lakh appeals allegedly filed in the name of the Election Commission before appellate tribunals in West Bengal challenging the inclusion of electors by judicial officers, claiming they lacked statutory sanction.
The plea also seeks directions to the Election Commission to restore full digital access and operational credentials of ERONet/ECINet to all Electoral Registration Officers under Section 13B of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and remove alleged central administrative veto powers exercised by the DG-IT.
Tripathi moved the Supreme Court citing a media report that alleged various decisions relating to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) were taken without the concurrence of the other two Election Commissioners.
