ECI Row : Supreme Court To Hear Tomorrow Petitions Against CEC Gyanesh Kumar Over SIR Decisions
The petitioners seek prosecution of Gyanesh Kumar, reversal of ECI decisions, and SIT inquiry into SIR voter deletions.
The Supreme Court will hear tomorrow two writ petitions filed against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the controversial decisions relating to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) which were reportedly taken without the concurrence of two other Election Commissioners.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana will hear the petitions.
The petitions have been filed in the context of reports that about 14 decisions were taken in the name of the ECI despite objections recorded by the other two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. According to the petitions, the two Commissioners recorded at least 14 objections between October 2025 and August 2026 concerning various SIR steps.
One of the petitions is filed by Ramesh Kumar Singh, which, among other things, seeks a declaration that the decisions of the Election Commission of India, being a multi-member body, cannot be taken unilaterally. The petitioner has further sought examination of the primary records of the Commission to determine whether the disputed actions were undertaken in accordance with the constitutional and statutory framework.
As an interim relief, the petitioner seeks the suspension of Gyanesh Kumar as the CEC.
The second petition is filed by Advocate Shaildendra Mani Tripathi seeking a quashing of the 14 decisions which were allegedly taken unilaterally. The petitioner has sought constitution of an independent Judicial Inquiry Commission/Special Investigation Team headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, assisted by cybersecurity and IT experts.
The proposed probe is sought to conduct a forensic audit of the ECINet and ERONet databases and investigate the circumstances in which, according to the petition, 13 crore names were deleted across 30 States and Union Territories during the SIR exercise.
The petitioner has specifically sought directions to the competent authority to register complaints and initiate prosecution under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 against Gyanesh Kumar, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg, Director General (IT) Seema Khanna and other officials found responsible for an alleged breach of official duty.
The petition relies on Section 32, which provides punishment for specified breaches of official duty in connection with the preparation, revision or correction of electoral rolls.
The petitioner alleges that the conduct complained of includes the alleged unauthorised modification of Form 6, centralisation of electoral-roll databases, failure to restore eligible voters through the ECINet system and the filing of 16.10 lakh appeals in West Bengal challenging the inclusion of voters purportedly in the name of the ECI.
Cases : Rakesh Kumar Singh v Union of India W.P.(C) No. 1246/2026 & Shailendra Mani Tripathi v. Union of India W.P.(Crl.) No. 401/2026