New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to pass any interim order to suspend Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over allegations that he took decisions unilaterally in the Election Commission of India (ECI), without consensus from the other two Election Commissioners.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant issued notice to the Election Commission of India, seeking its response to the allegations made in the plea.
The Court indicated that if, after considering the ECI’s response, it finds that certain decisions were taken by the CEC without the required unanimity, it could reconsider or recall those decisions.
“After notice, if they come and show that ABC decisions were taken without unanimity, we will take those decisions back,” the Court said.
The Court was hearing pleas against the Election Commission of India concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. One of the pleas challenged the manner in which the ECI is functioning, alleging that powers vested in the poll panel as a multi-member constitutional body are being exercised without following the collective decision-making mechanism mandated by law.
Earlier on Monday, following Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan’s remarks on what he described as the arbitrary disenfranchisement of voters, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh demanded the immediate resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
Ramesh alleged that Justice Bhuyan had exposed the CEC “lock, stock and barrel” and claimed that Kumar had become a “liability for the country” by executing what he described as “illegal orders.”
In a post on social media platform X, Ramesh wrote, “Here is the bold Justice Ujjal Bhuyan speaking yesterday in NALSAR University in Hyderabad where he exposed the CEC lock, stock and barrel. If he has any sense of shame Gyanesh Kumar must quit right away. His ability to execute G2’s illegal orders have now made him a liability for the country.”
Ramesh’s sharp reaction came against the backdrop of Justice Bhuyan’s address on Sunday at the valedictory ceremony of the 19th NALSAR BRS Moot Court Competition in Hyderabad.
The apex court judge said that any procedure resulting in the disenfranchisement of millions of citizens and turning individuals into “second-class citizens” without voting rights is “intrinsically arbitrary.”
“If any process results in disenfranchising millions and millions of Indian citizens, making them second-class citizens in their own country in the sense of being citizens without voting rights, such a process is intrinsically arbitrary. No amount of whataboutery can justify it. It strikes at the very heart of the Constitution,” Justice Bhuyan said.
The remarks came amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the Election Commission of India and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, with the Opposition targeting CEC Gyanesh Kumar and demanding his resignation.
On Sunday, the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) held a protest march from Raisina Road towards Jantar Mantar against Gyanesh Kumar, accusing the Central government of shielding him and demanding his immediate resignation.
The march was led by IYC National President Uday Bhanu Chib, with hundreds of youth workers carrying placards and raising slogans against the government amid heavy police deployment and barricading along the route.
Speaking to ANI, Chib criticised the Delhi Police for stopping the demonstrators from marching towards the designated protest site.
The controversy follows a report in The Indian Express stating that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally raised objections on at least 14 occasions over 10 months concerning decisions on electoral rolls, voter registration and the Commission’s technology systems.
The Election Commission, however, rejected the suggestion that the reported objections amounted to institutional dissent over final decisions. The poll panel said that operational queries, inputs and suggestions raised during the draft stage were part of its standard administrative and decision-making process.
The ECI stated that the decisions regarding the schedule of the SIR exercise were unanimous.
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