Supreme Court issues notice to EC on Rahul Gandhi's plea alleging irregularities in voter roll revision

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought responses from the Election Commission of India ECI and its senior officials on a petition filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders alleging largescale voter deletions and irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision SIR of electoral rollsA bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notices to the poll panel Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi The matter will be tagged with pending cases the bench saidSC questions conduct over opposition marchThe court also issued notices to Gandhi Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and others on a plea challenging their march to the Supreme Court over alleged SIR irregularitiesDuring the hearing lawyers referred to the opposition leaders march to the apex court on Monday when they sought judicial intervention over the electoral roll revision exerciseWe are issuing notice Tagging with pending cases But we would like to ask one of the petitioners about his conduct the bench saidThe court also cautioned against attempts to pressure the judiciary while hearing arguments concerning the marchNobody can browbeat judiciary We are not sitting in ivory towers the bench observedOpposition raises concerns over voter deletionsGandhi and other opposition leaders have challenged the electoral roll revision process alleging that large numbers of voters have been removed and that the exercise has involved procedural irregularitiesThe petition seeks greater transparency in the revision process and scrutiny of voter deletions The opposition leaders have also sought an independent audit of changes to electoral rolls and safeguards against the removal of eligible voters without due processThe Election Commission and the officials named in the petition will have an opportunity to respond to the allegations The issuance of notices does not amount to a finding by the court that irregularities occurredCourt hears separate contempt matterDuring the proceedings Solicitor General Tushar Mehta referred to an unconditional apology submitted by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan in a separate contempt matter Mehta submitted that offering an unconditional apology did not prevent authorities from defending their actions and was part of the legal procedureThe bench said it was not taking cognisance of media reports concerning unconditional apologies submitted by authoritiesThe contempt proceedings relate to alleged violations of the Supreme Courts directions concerning restrictions on Delhi Metro and train services during an October 10 protest called by the Cockroach Janta PartyJantar Mantar protestsite decision challengedThe Supreme Court also agreed to examine a petition challenging the decision to remove Jantar Mantar from the list of designated protest sites The issue has arisen amid demonstrations in Delhi demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the SIR exerciseWith inputs from PTI