Plea in Supreme Court seeks criminal prosecution of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over SIR decisions

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking criminal prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged violations of statutory duties in connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The plea, filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi through advocate Chand Qureshi, has sought that decisions, guidelines and software modifications allegedly undertaken by Kumar without the concurrence of the other two Election Commissioners be declared unconstitutional and void.

It has also sought that decisions related to the SIR allegedly taken without such concurrence be declared illegal and the original Form 6 be restored.

The petitioner has further sought a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged deletion of around 13 crore names from electoral rolls during the revision exercise.

The plea seeks criminal prosecution of Kumar, Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg and Election Commission IT head Seema Khanna, alleging violations of their statutory duties under the Representation of the People Act.

The petition refers to a recent report by an English daily, which said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over decisions and orders concerning the SIR.

According to the report cited in the plea, the objections related to issues including changes to Form 6, deletion and restoration of names from electoral rolls, and the handling and centralisation of electoral-roll data.

The petition claimed that the reported objections indicated repeated differences within the three-member Election Commission over decisions concerning the SIR.

The Election Commission, however, has maintained that decisions taken during the past year were unanimous, according to a subsequent report by an English daily.

The plea comes amid continued legal and political scrutiny of the SIR exercise. According to an English daily, more than 13 crore names have been removed from draft electoral rolls across 30 states and Union territories during the exercise.