The Supreme Court did not list Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders' plea on electoral roll revision because filing defects remain. The delay keeps allegations of voter deletions and demands for an independent audit pending for now.
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Newdelhi,Oct 13, 2026 14:34 IST
The Supreme Court on Tuesday did not list for hearing a petition filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and 10 other opposition leaders over alleged large-scale voter deletions and irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The matter was not taken up because defects pointed out by the court registry are yet to be cured.
A bench headed by the Chief Justice of India assured the petitioners that the cases would be listed once the defects are removed. "We will list all these matters. Make sure that the defects are cured," the CJI told senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who mentioned the matter on behalf of a journalist.
According to the Supreme Court website, the registry flagged 14 defects in the petition, including the absence of a clear copy of the ID card of Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, who is a co-petitioner. The registry also pointed out certain illegible or missing pages in the petition. The plea was filed after a massive march on October 12.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, while responding earlier to Gandhi's request for a meeting to submit a memorandum on issues concerning the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commission, the alleged arbitrary arrest of several students, closure of Metro stations and cancellation of trains, had said the plea would be given an early hearing if it was filed on the judicial side. The CJI had also declined a request by Kharge and Gandhi for a meeting to submit a memorandum, saying that convening a meeting on issues that are sub judice would go against the principle of separation of powers and was "incompatible with established ethics and judicial propriety".
Besides Gandhi and Kharge, the co-petitioners are TMC MP Saugata Roy, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) leader Supriya Sule, Shiv Sena-UBT leader Sanjay Raut, Communist Party of India's D Raja, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MP Mahua Majhi, CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby and Indian Union Muslim League leader E T Mohammed Basheer.
The petition has alleged large-scale voter deletions and irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls. It has sought the setting up of an independent committee, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and assisted by technical experts and other eminent citizens, to carry out a time-bound audit of deletions and modifications made during the exercise. It has also sought directions that no elector should be removed from the rolls without notice and a reasonable opportunity of hearing, and that eligible persons in Punjab and other states going to polls should be allowed to seek inclusion in the rolls until the last date permitted by law.
The plea said, "Issue an interim direction suspending the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls across the states, pending consideration and adjudication of the issues raised in the present petition, in the interests of protecting the rights of eligible electors and preserving the integrity of the electoral process." It has made the Election Commission of India, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi parties in the case.
The petition has also sought a direction to the poll panel to place on record the complete files, agendas, minutes, notings and objections recorded by the Election Commissioners on each of the disputed decisions linked to the SIR of electoral rolls, along with the relevant ECINET and ERONET access logs and the full records of the June 24, 2025 decision to begin the exercise across the country. It has asked the court to examine whether the disputed decisions were taken in line with Article 324 of the Constitution, Section 18 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, and the law declared by the apex court. Article 324 gives the Election Commission the power of superintendence, direction and control over the preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of elections.
The plea said that if any of the decisions were taken without lawful authority, they should be quashed. It further said, "Issue an appropriate writ, order or direction asking the competent authorities to take appropriate action against the persons responsible for any breach of the constitutional or statutory provisions governing the preparation and revision of electoral rolls, including under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, wherever warranted." It has also sought directions to ensure that online Form 6 matches the form prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, unless the rules are lawfully amended, and for the publication, booth-wise, of the names of all electors deleted during the SIR, the reasons for each deletion, and a gender- and age-wise break-up of deletions. The petition also seeks an effective mechanism to restore the names of electors found eligible for inclusion.
In sum, the Supreme Court has not yet taken up the petition over the SIR of electoral rolls, as the defects flagged by the registry remain to be fixed. The bench has said the matter will be listed once those defects are cured, while the plea seeks wide-ranging directions on voter deletions, records of the Election Commission's decisions and the continuation of the ongoing revision exercise.
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