SC puts ECI on notice, asks petitioners to explain conduct

Amid continued protests and heavy police presence across the capital, the Supreme Court issued notice today to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a challenge to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls filed by the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA Bloc leaders. A Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi stated that “one of the petitioners” needs to explain their conduct on 12 October, the day the petition was filed after INDIA Bloc leaders marched to the Supreme Court.

Senior Advocate Gaurav Bhatia told the Bench that what occurred at Court on 12 October could not be repeated. He said he has filed a plea seeking initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against Gandhi. “We can’t be browbeaten into anything,” responded the CJI. “We are not sitting in ivory towers. We see what is happening”, he added. 

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Gandhi.

The petition that has been listed

The joint petition challenges what it describes as the unilateral exercise of the ECI’s collective powers. It names the ECI, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi as respondents.

The petition asks the Court to examine whether decisions relating to the SIR were taken in accordance with Article 324, Section 18 of the CEC and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, and the principles laid down in T.N. Seshan v Union of India (1995). It seeks a complete file on the ECI’s 24 June 2025 decision to initiate the nationwide SIR, including records of internal deliberations.

Recent modifications to Form 6 have been challenged as well. Typically used for fresh registration of first-time voters, Form 6 is now the only route provided by the ECI for deleted voters to re-enter the rolls. In July, it was modified to require details from the previous SIR, a change that was allegedly objected to by Sandhu and Joshi as one that could not be made without amendment to the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. 

The petition seeks a direction that the form conform to the Rules and asks for a committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to audit voter deletions. It prays for access to electoral databases, and for booth-wise publication of deleted voters’ names, including reason for their deletion and demographic details. It further seeks safeguards to ensure that no voter is removed without notice and an opportunity to be heard. 

The principal interim relief sought is suspension of the SIR across states while the Court considers the challenge.