The Supreme Court on Thursday sought responses from the Election Commission and others on a petition filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and several other opposition leaders alleging large-scale voter deletions and irregularities in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The court also issued notices to Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and others on a petition against their march to the Supreme Court over the alleged irregularities. It observed that nobody could browbeat the judiciary.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notices to the Election Commission, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
“We are issuing notice… Tagging with pending cases. But we would like to ask one of the petitioners about his conduct,” the bench said.
During the hearing, some lawyers referred to the Congress leader’s march to the Supreme Court over the alleged SIR irregularities. “Nobody can browbeat judiciary. We are not sitting in ivory towers,” the bench observed.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta referred to the unconditional apology tendered by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan in a contempt case. He said tendering an unconditional apology did not mean that the actions in question could not be defended, adding that it was part of the procedure.
The bench told Mehta that it was not taking cognisance of media reports that authorities had tendered unconditional apologies before the court.
The contempt case concerned the alleged violation of the Supreme Court’s direction to ensure there was no “complete prohibition” on Metro and train services in Delhi following the October 10 protest called by the Cockroach Janta Party.
The court also issued notices to the Centre and others on various petitions related to the Election Commission, including those filed by leaders such as Asaduddin Owaisi. It also agreed to examine a petition challenging the removal of Jantar Mantar’s status as a designated protest site.
Gandhi and several other opposition leaders had marched to the Supreme Court on Monday to file the petition related to the SIR. Delhi has witnessed several protests demanding the resignation of the chief election commissioner over the alleged irregularities.
The Supreme Court will hear the opposition leaders’ petition along with pending cases, while also examining objections to their march and other petitions concerning the Election Commission and protest regulations.
– Ends
Source link
[ad_3]
