New Delhi, October 2, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a petition challenging the manner in which the powers of the Election Commission of India (ECI) are being exercised, including whether Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar can individually exercise or represent powers constitutionally vested in the multi-member poll panel.
According to the cause list published on the Supreme Court’s official website, a Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana is slated to take up the matter on October 5.
The plea was mentioned before the CJI on September 29 by senior advocate Vikas Singh. Following the mentioning, the CJI said, “List it next week.”
The petition seeks enforcement of the collective decision-making framework governing the ECI and a writ in the nature of quo warranto concerning the authority under which the CEC has reportedly acted in the name of the poll panel.
The petitioner contends that Article 324 of the Constitution vests the superintendence, direction and control of elections in the “Commission” and not in an individual Chief Election Commissioner. The plea also relies on Section 18 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, which provides for collective decision-making, with matters on which there is no unanimity to be decided by majority.
The petition refers to contemporaneous written communications and file notings attributed to Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. It alleges that they recorded at least 14 objections between October 2025 and August 2026 regarding decisions and steps allegedly taken in the name of the ECI without their approval.
The objections outlined in the petition reportedly concern communications and orders allegedly issued without the poll panel’s approval, the absence of agendas before meetings and minutes afterward, foreign travel undertaken without approval, changes to Form 6, access to the electoral roll database, and the filing of appeals before tribunals in West Bengal.
The plea also refers to concerns allegedly raised by the two Election Commissioners over the “gradual centralisation of the electoral roll database” and changes in the work allocation of the ECI’s IT establishment.
The petitioner has sought a declaration that powers vested in the ECI under Article 324 cannot be exercised or represented as acts of the poll panel except in accordance with the constitutional and statutory framework governing the Commission.
The plea further seeks declaratory and mandatory directions to ensure compliance with the collective decision-making process, along with the production and preservation of relevant records concerning the disputed decisions.
The ECI, meanwhile, has maintained that the reported differences between the Commissioners do not amount to an institutional “rupture,” stating that internal objections and written notes are established mechanisms within a multi-member constitutional body.
The poll panel has also said that its decisions, including those related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, were unanimous, and that differences raised by Commissioners are part of the normal deliberative and administrative process.
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