New Delhi, October 16, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Supreme Court on Thursday sought an explanation from Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut over his conduct while provisionally entertaining his petition as part of a broader challenge by opposition leaders to the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said Raut’s petition would be entertained on a provisional basis, subject to his explaining his conduct.
“In W.P. (C) No. 1351/2026, the petition on behalf of Petitioner No. 6 (Sanjay Raut) is entertained on a provisional basis, subject to his explaining his conduct,” the Bench said in its order.
The development follows controversy over remarks made by Raut concerning CJI Surya Kant after the Chief Justice declined to meet Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to receive a memorandum on the SIR exercise.
The CJI had said that convening a meeting to discuss pending cases would be contrary to the constitutional principle of separation of powers, which is an intrinsic part of the basic structure doctrine.
During a media interaction on October 12, Raut, a Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member, claimed that he had seen 60 to 70 judges, including the CJI, playing badminton with BJP leaders in London.
The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has filed a criminal contempt petition against Raut and journalist Nikhil Wagle over their alleged remarks concerning the CJI.
Raut is among 13 opposition leaders who approached the Supreme Court on October 12, challenging the SIR exercise and alleging large-scale voter deletions and irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls.
On Wednesday, the apex court issued notice on the opposition leaders’ petition, making it returnable on October 27. It directed that any response be filed by the next date of hearing and ordered that the matter be tagged with the pending batch of petitions concerning the SIR exercise.
The Bench had also indicated during the previous hearing that it would examine the conduct of one of the petitioners at the next hearing, without identifying the petitioner at that stage.
The petition names the ECI, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi as respondents.
Other petitioners include Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, among others.
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