The Supreme Court on Thursday sought response from the Election Commission and others on a plea filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and several other opposition leaders over alleged large-scale voter deletions and SIR irregularities.
Taking up the plea filed by the opposition leaders, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notice to the poll panel, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut are among those who have moved the Supreme Court. The case, numbered W.P.(C) No. 001351/2026, was lodged on October 12 and formally registered by the court registry a day later, following the rectification of initial procedural defects.
The petition urged the court to mandate prior notice and a fair hearing before any voter is struck off the electoral rolls. It further calls for the release of polling booth-wise data on deleted voters, specifying the grounds for each deletion and their demographic particulars.
The court also issued notice to Rahul Gandhi, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and others on a plea against their march to the apex court over alleged SIR irregularities, while observing that nobody can browbeat the judiciary.
"We are issuing notice ...Tagging with pending cases. But we would like to ask one of the petitioners about his conduct," the bench said.
During the hearing, some lawyers referred to the Congress leader's march to the apex court over the alleged irregularities in SIR.
"Nobody can browbeat judiciary. We are not sitting in ivory towers," the bench observed.
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Referring to the unconditional apology tendered by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan in a contempt matter, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that tendering unconditional apology does not mean that actions cannot be defended and said it is a part of procedure.
The bench told Mehta that it is not taking cognisance of media reports that authorities tendered unconditional apologies before the court.
The contempt case pertained to alleged violation of the apex court's direction to ensure no “complete prohibition” on Metro and train services in Delhi in the wake of the October 10 protest called by the Cockroach Janta Party.
The top court also issued notices to the Centre, others on various pleas related to the Election Commission filed by leaders like Asaduddin Owaisi.
The apex court also agreed to examine a plea challenging de-notification of Jantar Mantar as designated protest site.
Rahul Gandhi and several other opposition leaders had marched to the apex court to file the petition related to SIR on Monday.
The city has witnessed several protests demanding the resignation of the CEC over alleged irregularities in the SIR.