New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to pass an ex-parte interim order suspending Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, but issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission of India on petitions challenging the manner in which key decisions were taken by the poll panel. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana sought responses from the Union government, the ECI, Gyanesh Kumar, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg, and Director General (IT) Seema Khanna.
The pleas allege that Gyanesh Kumar, as Chairman of the three-member Election Commission, took several decisions relating to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls unilaterally, without the concurrence of the other two commissioners. One of the petitions cited at least 14 instances of contemporaneous objections allegedly recorded by Commissioners Sandhu and Joshi between October 2025 and August 2026.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing petitioner Rakesh Kumar Singh, urged the court to immediately suspend Gyanesh Kumar and direct that the Commission’s business be transacted by the other two commissioners in the interim. The bench, however, declined the request, observing that a constitutional authority cannot be penalised without first giving the respondents an opportunity to present their case, and that suspending the CEC at this stage could stall the functioning of the Election Commission altogether.
A second, connected petition filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi sought the quashing of the 14 contested decisions and the constitution of an independent judicial inquiry commission or a Special Investigation Team, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and assisted by cybersecurity and IT experts, to examine the matter.
The court clarified that if the Election Commission, upon responding to the notice, is found to have taken decisions without unanimity among the commissioners, those decisions could be reconsidered. It observed that Election Commission decisions must be either unanimous or taken by majority. The matter will proceed further once the Centre and the Election Commission file their responses.