New Delhi:
A senior lawyer filed a petition on behalf of Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders in the Supreme Court against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday, questioning the mass deletion of voters under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and seeking intervention in the functioning of the Election Commission.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were joined by thousands of supporters in the INDIA bloc's march to the Supreme Court. The original plan was to submit a memorandum to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. However, when the CJI refused to meet them and asked them to approach the court like litigators, the politicians decided to file a formal petition.
Because Rahul Gandhi couldn't reach the Supreme Court before 4:30 pm, the deadline, his petition was filed by lawyer S Prasanna.
The Congress MP, who is the face of the party's agitation against Kumar since a newspaper report alleged that two other Election Commissioners had raised several objections to the poll body's decision linked to the SIR exercise, has been named in the plea as the main petitioner. 10 other Congress and INDIA bloc leaders were also included in the document. They are: Mallikarjun Kharge, Saugata Roy, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Sanjay Raut, MA Baby, D Raja, Mahua Majhi, Supriya Sule and ET Mohammed Basheer.
The Supreme Court's registry has been directed to process the petition today. It has also been ordered to rectify any defects so that the matter can be listed for hearing on Tuesday.
A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant will likely hear Gandhi's petition on Tuesday.
The CJI had stated in his response that if the petition were filed by Monday evening, it would be heard the next day.
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The SIR exercise, which seeks to update electoral rolls after deleting the names of those who died or moved away, came under fresh Opposition fire after a newspaper reported that many poll body decisions had been taken without informing the other two Election Commissioners.
The Cockroach Janta Party, a pressure group which forced education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation in July, has also been protesting in the national capital seeking Gyanesh Kumar's resignation over the same issue. Its planned march was scuttled by the Delhi Police, which detained over 3,000 supporters and put curbs on their influx into the national capital.
Just two days later, Opposition leaders, accompanied by thousands of supporters and activists, carried out their "March for Democracy" to the Supreme Court.
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Before the march, Rahul Gandhi addressed a press conference and asked Kumar to "turn approver".
"Resign, turn approver; you (Kumar) have made a mistake, but you are not the mind behind the mistake. We know Gyanesh Kumar is unable to sleep at night; I am telling him directly, 'You will not survive as CEC," he said.