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 petition, filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi through advocate Chand Qureshi, has challenged decisions, guidelines and software changes allegedly made by Kumar without the approval of the other two Election Commissioners. It has sought that such decisions be declared unconstitutional and void.
The plea has also asked the court to declare decisions related to the SIR taken without the concurrence of the other commissioners as illegal and restore the original Form 6.
The petitioner has sought a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the alleged deletion of around 13 crore names from electoral rolls during the revision exercise.
The petition also seeks criminal prosecution of Kumar, Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg and Election Commission IT head Seema Khanna, alleging that they violated their statutory duties under the Representation of the People Act.
The plea refers to a recent report by The Indian Express, which said Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on at least 14 occasions over decisions and orders linked to the SIR.
The reported objections included changes to Form 6, deletion and restoration of names from electoral rolls, and the handling and centralisation of electoral-roll data.
According to the petition, these objections pointed to differences within the three-member Election Commission over various decisions related to the SIR.
The Election Commission, however, has said that decisions taken over the past year, including those related to the SIR, were approved unanimously by all three commissioners.
The petition comes at a time when the SIR exercise is facing legal scrutiny. The Indian Express reported that more than 13 crore names had been removed from draft electoral rolls across 30 states and Union territories during the exercise.