New Delhi, October 15, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Supreme Court on Thursday sought a response from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a petition filed by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and 12 other INDIA bloc leaders challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, while indicating that it would examine the conduct of one of the petitioners at the next hearing.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed that the petition be tagged with other pending cases challenging the validity of the SIR exercise in various states.
“We are issuing notice and tagging it with the matters already pending,” the Bench said, directing that notice be accepted on behalf of the ECI or served on the respondents by the petitioners.
The court also said it wanted an explanation from one of the petitioners regarding his conduct at the next hearing, without identifying the individual concerned. It indicated that the notice concerning the petitioner would be entertained provisionally, subject to an explanation.
The petition, filed on October 12, alleges large-scale deletion of voters and irregularities in the electoral roll revision exercise. Besides Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the petitioners include Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, among other INDIA bloc leaders.
The respondents include the ECI, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
The legal challenge comes amid Opposition protests against the SIR exercise and alleged electoral irregularities, including a march towards the Supreme Court.
Separately, advocate Vineet Jindal has approached CJI Surya Kant seeking consideration of suo motu criminal contempt proceedings over a now-deleted social media post by the Congress’s Kerala unit targeting the Chief Justice and the Opposition’s protest march.
Jindal has also sought an examination of the reported demonstration at the Supreme Court registry during the filing of the INDIA bloc petition to determine whether any restricted area was entered without authorisation, security instructions were violated or court functioning was obstructed.
He urged the preservation and examination of CCTV footage, access-control logs, security deployment records and other relevant evidence before any conclusions are reached.
The issue was also mentioned before the CJI on Tuesday by senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia. When asked whether the matter was on the mentioning list, Bhatia replied in the negative. “Just mention tomorrow,” the CJI said.
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