Kashmir Impulse Desk
New Delhi, Oct 12
Opposition leaders led by Rahul Gandhi have moved the Supreme Court over alleged large-scale voter deletions and irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls, escalating their confrontation with the Election Commission.
The petition, registered on the Supreme Court’s website, names Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and leaders from several opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), Shiv Sena (UBT), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Indian Union Muslim League.
The legal move coincided with a march by INDIA bloc leaders towards the Supreme Court under the banner ‘Chalo Delhi – March for Democracy’.
The protesters demanded action over alleged electoral irregularities and called for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign.
The opposition has accused the Election Commission of undermining electoral fairness through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), arguing that eligible voters could be removed from electoral rolls.
The commission has maintained that the exercise is intended to update voter lists and remove duplicate and ineligible entries.
The filing of the petition does not mean the court has accepted the allegations.
Gandhi, Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and other opposition leaders joined the march, which was met by heavy police deployment and barricades on roads leading to the Supreme Court.
Security restrictions prevented demonstrators from proceeding beyond barricaded sections near Bhagwan Das Road, although a group of leaders, including Gandhi, were allowed into the court premises.
Gandhi accused the Narendra Modi government of protecting the chief election commissioner and questioned the scale of the security deployment.
He has argued that the dispute concerns constitutional safeguards and every eligible citizen’s right to vote.
The controversy has intensified following media reports alleging that Kumar took several decisions on the SIR exercise despite objections from other election commissioners.
The allegations have fuelled opposition demands for greater transparency in the poll panel’s functioning.
The march followed several days of demonstrations and police action in Delhi. Protesters, lawyers and journalists were among those who alleged that restrictions and detentions had obstructed peaceful demonstrations.
The Supreme Court held a special sitting on October 11 to consider concerns arising from the protests and police action.
It issued directions against arbitrary detention of peaceful protesters and raised concerns about disruptions affecting professionals and public services, according to the source report.
Fresh petitions subsequently alleged that detentions had continued despite the court’s directions.
The Supreme Court Bar Association and other petitioners have also sought intervention over the alleged manhandling and detention of lawyers.
Those matters were scheduled for hearing on Tuesday.
Delhi Metro authorities temporarily closed entry and exit gates at six stations during Monday’s opposition mobilisation before reopening them, according to national media reports.
The Supreme Court’s consideration of the petitions will depend on the legal arguments and evidence placed before it.
