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Informist, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026

 

--SC notice to poll panel on plea vs panel chief's functioning, roll revision 

--SC refuses to pass interim order to suspend poll panel chief Kumar 

--CONTEXT: Plea to declare poll panel's roll revision decisions as invalid 

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Monday refused to pass an interim order to suspend Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on a petition alleging that he took unilateral decisions on the special intensive revision of electoral rolls even after two election commissioners recorded their dissent. The apex court issued notices to poll panel chief Kumar and others on a petition by Rakesh Kumar Singh to declare special intensive revision of electoral rolls and all actions, decisions, directions, and measures taken under it, invalid from the very beginning and without legal authority.

 

The apex court also tagged a similar petition by Shailendra Mani Tripathi seeking a complaint and prosecution against Kumar under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, on violating statutory duties. Tripathi sought the constitution of an independent, high-powered judicial inquiry commission or a special investigation team headed by a retired judge of the top court, with independent cybersecurity experts from Indian Institute of Technology, to conduct an end-to-end technical, forensic, and administrative audit of the poll panel's databases on electoral rolls. 

 

"We have to issue notice. After notice, if they come and the reports show that an Election Commission decision was neither by majority nor by unanimity, they will have to explain those decisions," said a bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. "If records show some decision was not unanimous, we will injunct those decisions and say they are ultra-vires. Can we ex-parte come to a decision that all decisions were unilateral? We expect them to respond in a clear, transparent manner," said the court. The procedure for transaction of business in the poll panel is to be decided unanimously, while functioning can be by majority, it said. The poll panel is expected to first take a decision unanimously; if there is no unanimity, then, as rightly pointed out, it can be decided by majority, it added.  

 

The top court also said that modified Form 6 has not been approved by it in its previous verdict. Earlier, the poll panel had said that the apex court had approved modified Form 6 in its judgment of special roll revision petitions pertaining to Bihar elections. The modified Form 6 had required ancestry or last special intensive revision declarations by the electors. 

 

Singh had argued that Article 324(1) of the Constitution does not vest the superintendence, direction and control of elections in an individual Chief Election Commissioner. It vests those powers in a commission, he had said. The petitioner said that Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023 protects serving and former Election Commissioners from civil or criminal proceedings for acts, words or things done while acting, or claiming to act, in their official capacity. Such a protection is not available even to Supreme Court judges, he said.

 

According to The Indian Express report, over 10 months, from November 2025 to August 2026, the other two election commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, formally recorded written dissents and objections on at least 14 separate occasions, including four times on a single day, against the decisions taken and executed in the name of the Election Commission of India. These decisions include introducing a mandatory ancestral condition for first-time young voters without legislative authority or amendment of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, violating the mandatory rule of majority transacted under Section 18 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023 and other related decisions. 

 

There have been protests in Delhi and Mumbai demanding the resignation of Kumar, where several people have been detained. The protests were organised by All India Students' Association, Students' Federation of India, Aam Aadmi Party and Indian National Congress separately in Delhi. Meanwhile, the Cockroach Janata Party is also protesting in Mumbai seeking Kumar's resignation.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Himanshi Gupta

 

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