Supreme Court Registry flags 14 defects in Rahul Gandhi, INDIA bloc leaders’ plea against ECI’s SIR

The Supreme Court Registry has flagged 14 defects in a writ petition filed by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and nine other INDIA bloc leaders challenging aspects of the Election Commission of Indiarsquos ECI ongoing Special Intensive Revision SIR of electoral rollsIn its objections notified on October 12 the Registry also sought clarification on why Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had been named as respondents in a petition filed under Article 32 of the ConstitutionThe petitioners have alleged irregularities in the exercise of the Election Commissionrsquos powers during the electoralroll revision and sought judicial scrutiny of the decisions taken and implemented by the poll panelRegistry questions inclusion of election officialsThe Registry raised an objection over the inclusion of the three election officials as respondents seeking clarification from the petitioners on the issueIt also asked them to correct the respondentrsquos name in the listing proforma rectify respondent details on page 9 and provide the correct respondent number in the prayer sectionAnother objection concerned the absence of a mandatory similarity paragraph under the Supreme Court Rules The petitioners have been asked to state whether they had previously approached the court against the challenged order or judgment and if so provide the outcome of those proceedingsThe Registry recorded the objection twice as ldquoSIMILARITY PARA NOT FOUNDrdquoMissing documents and annexure discrepancies flaggedThe Registry directed the petitioners to attach a copy of the decision dated June 24 2025 referred to in prayer a It also flagged a mismatch between the date of Annexure P2 and the details mentioned in the petitionFurther objections included a discrepancy in the case number of Annexure P5 and a direction to submit a pen drive for Annexure P6The Registry also noted that vakalatnamas were missing for petitioner Nos 3 to 11 and sought a clear copy of the identity card of petitioner No 2 The petitioners have additionally been asked to deposit Rs 220 towards the court feeFormatting and legibility issues in petitionThe Registry sought colour copies of pages 57 and 64 and flagged several issues relating to the presentation and legibility of the documentsThese included dim or illegible pages small font missing pages a vernacular page and discrepancies in pagination The Registry noted that the defects would be identified after the final printout was takenPetition seeks scrutiny of SIR decisionsFiled on October 12 under Article 32 the petition raises questions about the Election Commissionrsquos collective functioning in connection with the SIR changes to Form 6 the functioning of ECINET and ERONET and the process used to mark electors for deletion or restorationThe petitioners have sought the production of the ECIrsquos files agendas minutes notings and objections relating to the disputed decisions They have also requested scrutiny of whether the Commission acted in accordance with Article 324 of the Constitution and Section 18 of the 2023 ActAmong the other reliefs sought are an independent audit of electoralroll databases and deletions and directions to ensure that no elector is deleted without notice and a reasonable opportunity of being heardPlea follows CJIrsquos communicationThe petition was filed after a written communication from Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on October 11 indicated that matters raising similar issues were listed for hearing on October 13The communication stated that the petitioners could file their plea on October 12 either physically or through electronic filingWith inputs from ANI