Supreme Court to hear petitions against CEC Gyanesh Kumar over alleged unilateral decisions
A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was listed on Monday to hear two writ petitions challenging CEC Gyanesh Kumar over decisions allegedly taken without the concurrence of the other election commissioners.
The Supreme Court on Monday, 5 October, took up two writ petitions challenging Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged unilateral decisions during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, The Indian Express reported. A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana is hearing the matter, mentioned before the CJI on 29 September by senior advocate Vikas Singh, who was told: “List it next week,” IANS reported.
The petitions follow an Indian Express exposé reporting that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections at least 14 times between October 2025 and August 2026 to SIR decisions issued without their knowledge or against their recommendations. The two also wrote to Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan; the ECI said the letters concerned an officer on deputation, not policy or IT matters.
One petition, by Patna resident Rakesh Kumar Singh, seeks a declaration that ECI decisions cannot be taken unilaterally, arguing Article 324 vests power in the Commission as a body. As interim relief it seeks Kumar’s suspension, South First reported. The second, by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi, seeks quashing of the 14 disputed decisions and a judicial inquiry or SIT headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, per Live Law via CNBC-TV18.
The petitioners’ claim of about 13 crore deletions across 30 states and union territories is contained in the petitions and has not been established by the court. More on the controversy in our India politics topic hub.
More on this topic: all World stories
