Supreme Court Seeks Responses in Pleas Against CEC

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices seeking responses from the Election Commission of India, the Centre and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to petitions alleging that decisions were made in the poll panel’s name without the approval required from its other members. The Court declined to suspend Kumar while the case proceeds, leaving the allegations unresolved. A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, sought responses within a week, according to accounts of the hearing. The petitions challenge how the Election Commission handled matters connected to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and ask the Court to examine whether Kumar exercised powers belonging to the Commission as a whole. The Court said Commission decisions should be unanimous or made by a majority, and indicated that it presumed the decisions at issue had followed that process. It also said it could reconsider or recall decisions if the responses showed they lacked required unanimity. The Court did not rule on whether any specific decision was unauthorized or unlawful.