The Supreme Court on Monday declined to pass an interim order suspending Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over allegations that he took decisions unilaterally in the Election Commission of India (ECI), without the consensus of the other two Election Commissioners.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant issued notice to the ECI and sought its response to the allegations. The Court indicated that it could reconsider decisions taken by the poll panel if it finds, after examining the ECI's response, that they were not taken in accordance with the required decision-making process.
“After notice, if they come and show that ABC decisions were taken without unanimity, we will take those decisions back” it said.
The Court was hearing pleas challenging the functioning of the ECI in connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. One of the petitions alleged that powers vested in the ECI as a multi-member constitutional body were being exercised without following the collective decision-making mechanism prescribed by law.
The petition also raised allegations over decisions relating to electoral rolls, voter registration and other aspects of the Commission's functioning. The Court sought the ECI's response before considering any further interim relief.
The developments came a day after Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, while speaking at an event at NALSAR University in Hyderabad, said that any process resulting in the disenfranchisement of millions of citizens would be "intrinsically arbitrary".
Following the remarks, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh demanded the immediate resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that Justice Bhuyan had exposed the CEC "lock, stock and barrel."
The Congress leader claimed that the CEC has become a "liability for the country" and alleged that he was executing "illegal orders." In a post on social media platform X, Ramesh wrote:
"Here is the bold Justice Ujjal Bhuyan speaking yesterday in NALSAR University in Hyderabad where he exposed the CEC lock, stock and barrel. If he has any sense of shame Gyanesh Kumar must quit right away. His ability to execute G2’s illegal orders have now made him a liability for the country."
Justice Bhuyan had said during his address at the valedictory ceremony of the 19th NALSAR BRS Moot Court Competition that any process leading to the disenfranchisement of millions of citizens and turning them into "second-class citizens" without voting rights would be arbitrary.
"If any process results in disenfranchising millions and millions of Indian citizens, making them second-class citizens in their own country in the sense of being citizens without voting rights, such a process is intrinsically arbitrary. No amount of whataboutery can justify it. It strikes at the very heart of the Constitution," Justice Bhuyan had stated.
His remarks came amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the ECI's SIR exercise and opposition parties' criticism of the poll panel's functioning. The issue has also led to demands for Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.
On Sunday, the Indian Youth Congress held a protest march from Raisina Road towards Jantar Mantar against Gyanesh Kumar. The protesters accused the Central government of shielding the CEC and demanded his resignation.
The march was led by IYC National President Uday Bhanu Chib, with hundreds of youth workers carrying placards and raising slogans against the government amid heavy police deployment and barricading along the route.
Speaking to ANI, Chib criticised the Delhi Police for stopping the demonstrators from marching towards the designated protest site.
"The question is that we are going to Jantar Mantar. Even the Supreme Court said that if you want to protest peacefully, you have to go to Jantar Mantar. But we are not being allowed because Modi and Shah have to save Gyanesh. This traitor of the country, Gyanesh, cannot be saved. We will go towards Jantar Mantar. No one's father owns Jantar Mantar. If they try to stop us here, we will sit down right there. They are scared; their theft has been caught. For the last year and a half, Rahul Gandhi has been exposing these thieves' thievery to the country, and now more evidence is coming out," Chib asserted.
The controversy has also followed a report in The Indian Express alleging that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally raised objections on at least 14 occasions over 10 months concerning decisions related to electoral rolls, voter registration and the Commission's technology systems.
The ECI, however, rejected the suggestion that these objections amounted to institutional dissent over final decisions. The poll panel said operational queries, inputs and suggestions raised during the draft stage were part of its standard administrative and decision-making process.
The ECI has also maintained that decisions concerning the schedule of the SIR exercise were unanimous.