NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to the Election Commission of India (ECI), Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi on a petition alleging large-scale voter deletions and irregularities during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The petition was filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders, who have raised concerns over the conduct of the voter-list revision exercise.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi sought responses from the poll panel and the senior election officials.
In a separate matter concerning an opposition protest march to the Supreme Court against alleged irregularities in the SIR process, the court issued notices to Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and others.
The bench made it clear that issuing notices did not amount to condoning the conduct of the political leaders during the protest.
‘Nobody can intimidate the judiciary’
The Supreme Court strongly underlined the independence of the judiciary, observing that no one could overpower or intimidate it. The bench cautioned that the decision to issue notices should not be interpreted as the court forgiving what it described as inappropriate conduct by political leaders.
During the hearing, senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta raised objections to Monday’s protest, alleging that a political procession had entered the Supreme Court complex and that demonstrators had raised slogans in the presence of hundreds of supporters.
They argued that bringing a political demonstration into the court complex and attempting to exert pressure through slogans was unacceptable.
CCTV footage to be preserved
The Supreme Court also directed its registrar to preserve the complete CCTV footage of the incidents that took place near the court premises and its entry gates during Monday’s protest.
The direction is expected to help preserve the record of the events surrounding the demonstration as the proceedings move forward.
The two petitions bring the controversy over the SIR exercise and the opposition’s protest against alleged voter-list irregularities before the Supreme Court. While one matter concerns allegations of large-scale deletions from electoral rolls, the other relates to the conduct of political leaders and demonstrators during the protest near the court.
