The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to early listing of plea challenging the manner in which the Election Commission of India is functioning under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The plea alleges that powers vested in the poll panel as a multi-member constitutional body are being exercised without following the collective decision-making mechanism mandated by law.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant for early listing of the case saying the statutory scheme requires decisions of the multi-member Commission to be unanimous or by majority.
The apex court will hear the plea next week.
"The way the Election Commission is functioning, there is serious doubt over whether the decisions are unanimous," he submitted.
The plea comes after a report in the Indian Express claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi Sandhu had objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation
However, the EC had said in a statement that the letters sent by Sandhu and Joshi to the Cabinet Secretary pertained to an officer on deputation, rather than policy or IT division matters.
Also read: 'CEC Gyanesh Kumar, PM Modi, Shah conspired to sabotage Indian democracy': K C Venugopal
Protests against CEC Gyanesh Kumar
AAP Delhi President Saurabh Bharadwaj made a public call for people to join the Jantar Mantar protests as other opposition groups are likely to join or hold parallel protests.
The proposed protest is part of the continuing campaign against the EC over the SIR exercise and demands for Kumar's resignation. Opposition parties and various civil society groups have held demonstrations in several parts of India in recent days.
Meanwhile, Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement, has announced a parallel "Jail Bharo Andolan" at Mumbai's Shivaji Park on October 2 at 4 pm.
Earlier, Dipke said that Mumbai Police denied permission for CJP's proposed October 2 protest demanding CEC Kumar's resignation. Following this, he announced that the movement would launch the "Jail Bharo Andolan" on Gandhi Jayanti 2026.
The CJP had originally planned to launch a nationwide protest from Mumbai on October 2 if Gyanesh Kumar did not resign as CEC.
On September 25, Dipke said, "If Gyanesh Kumar does not resign by tomorrow, CJP will begin its nationwide protest from Mumbai on 2 October, and take it to cities across India. This Gandhi Jayanti, let's pledge to save democracy."
