Stories
Supreme Court Plea by Rahul Gandhi Against Voter Roll Revision Ready for Hearing
- •Rahul Gandhi and INDIA bloc leaders have rectified all 14 registry defects in their Supreme Court petition challenging the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
- •The petition seeks an independent audit of changes to electoral rolls, a halt to the ongoing revision process, and a stay on the exercise across states.
- •Gandhi has raised concerns over unilateral decision-making by the Chief Election Commissioner, modifications to Form 6, and the deletion of nearly 13 crore names from the rolls.
- •The plea requests the formation of a retired Supreme Court judge-led committee to audit deletions and demands booth-wise lists of removed voters with reasons for their removal.
Key Questions Answered
The Supreme Court registry flagged 14 procedural defects in Rahul Gandhi's petition, which included missing documents, a shortfall of Rs 220 in court fees, incomplete papers, incomplete authorizations for nine petitioners, and a blurred copy of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's identity card. All these defects have since been rectified to allow listing.
Rahul Gandhi has asked the Supreme Court for an interim stay on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise across states and the creation of a committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to independently audit deletions and modifications. He also requested the publication of booth-wise lists of deleted voters with reasons, safeguards against arbitrary removals, and the public disclosure of official records concerning the SIR exercise.
The petition questions the decision-making process by alleging that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar acted unilaterally without the knowledge, approval, or concurrence of the other Election Commissioners. It also cites RTI responses indicating that no formal decision was made to initiate a nationwide SIR in 2025, and flags issues with modified voter registration rules and software databases lacking rollback facilities.
