- Supreme Court plea challenges CEC over Commissioners’ objections.
- Report indicated 14 objections on electoral roll decisions.
- Bombay HC received separate plea challenging ECI actions.
- ECI rejects rift, states all decisions were unanimous.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar following a report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over decisions and orders linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The plea cites a September 23 investigation by The Indian Express, which reported that the two Election Commissioners had objected over a 10-month period to decisions they said were taken without their knowledge. The issues reportedly included voter registration, deletion and restoration of names, changes to Form 6 and the centralisation of electoral-roll data.
The development comes on the same day as a separate petition was filed before the Kolhapur Bench of the Bombay High Court, challenging 14 administrative actions of the Election Commission and seeking relief over the ongoing SIR exercise in Maharashtra.
What Bombay HC Plea Raises
The Kolhapur Bench of the Bombay High Court is separately dealing with a petition challenging 14 administrative actions of the ECI and Gyanesh Kumar. The petitioners have sought to quash the actions, halt the SIR exercise in Maharashtra and restore the names of voters deleted during the process.
The petition also seeks the creation of an independent judicial committee headed by a retired High Court judge to examine alleged irregularities. It raises questions about voter registration, deletion of names, electoral-roll databases, the functioning of Electoral Registration Officers and the ECINet system.
The two court proceedings come as scrutiny of the Election Commission’s functioning intensifies following the reported objections by Sandhu and Joshi. The ECI, however, has continued to maintain that its decisions were taken unanimously.
ECI Rejects Claims Of Rift
The Election Commission has rejected the suggestion that its decisions were taken without the approval of the full Commission. The poll panel has maintained that its decisions, including those concerning the SIR, were unanimous.
The ECI’s position contrasts with the account in The Indian Express report, which said Sandhu and Joshi had recorded objections on multiple occasions. The report detailed concerns involving voter registration, electoral-roll changes and the handling and access of voter data.
The dispute has since expanded into a wider legal and political controversy, with petitions being filed in courts and Opposition parties demanding action against the CEC. These demands are based on the reported internal objections and remain contested by the Election Commission.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: abplive.com
