Supreme Court to consider pleas seeking action against election chief

India’s Supreme Court is scheduled to hear petitions seeking the suspension of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over allegations that decisions were taken without the approval of the other two Election Commissioners. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymala Bagchi and V. Mohana is due to hear petitions filed by Rakesh Kumar Singh and advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi.

The petitions argue that Kumar may have exercised powers belonging to the Election Commission as a whole, contrary to the requirement for collective decision-making. One petition seeks Kumar’s suspension while the case is heard, saying this would preserve the commission’s multi-member character. Another petition seeks criminal proceedings against the CEC and other officials.

It also asks the court to invalidate decisions, guidelines, directives and software changes allegedly introduced without concurrence from the full commission or contrary to the majority view. The challenges include a change to Form 6, used to register voters. The petition alleges that information concerning ancestry and links to a previous Special Intensive Revision was added through election software without the statutory amendment required under electoral rules.

The petition says the other two commissioners objected to the changes, arguing that the prescribed form could not be altered without following the required procedure. It also raises claims concerning electoral-roll revisions in Goa and West Bengal. In Goa, the petition alleges that software could not restore 97 eligible electors despite directions for their verification.

In West Bengal, it claims that more than 16.10 lakh appeals were filed in the commission’s name against voters whose names had been restored by judicial officers, without the knowledge or authorisation of the other commissioners and the state’s chief electoral officer. The Election Commission has rejected the criticism, saying differing views are normal in institutional deliberations and that its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures. The Union Law Ministry, the commission, Kumar, the other commissioners and senior official Maneesh Garg have been named as parties.