Supreme Court plea seeks CEC prosecution over electoral roll revision

An advocate has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking criminal prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for alleged violations of statutory duties in connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The petition, filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi through advocate Chand Qureshi, contends that Kumar undertook key decisions, guidelines and software modifications without obtaining the concurrence of the two other election commissioners, thereby exceeding his authority.

The plea seeks a declaration that all decisions, guidelines and software modifications related to the SIR be struck down as unconstitutional and void. It further requests that the original Form 6—the standard electoral registration form—be restored following the revision exercise. The petitioner has also named Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg and Seema Khanna, the IT head of the Election Commission, as parties to be prosecuted, alleging they similarly violated their statutory obligations.

A central concern raised in the petition is the alleged deletion of approximately 13 crore voters from electoral rolls during the revision exercise. The petitioner has sought the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the extent and circumstances of these deletions. The petition challenges the legality of the entire SIR process, suggesting that procedural safeguards governing the Election Commission's functioning were circumvented in its implementation.