The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Election Commission and the Centre on a batch of pleas seeking the suspension of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The petitions also challenge decisions allegedly taken by the poll panel under Kumar without the approval or concurrence of the other two election commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said it could not base an order solely on a newspaper report. The court said it would require a response from the Election Commission before examining whether the Chief Election Commissioner could individually exercise powers constitutionally assigned to the multi-member poll panel. The EC and Centre have been asked to respond within a week.

The bench made several observations during the hearing, including that decisions of the Election Commission must be either unanimous or taken by majority. It also said that if any decision of the poll panel is found to be contrary to law, the court could annul it. On allegations concerning changes to Form 6, the court clarified that it had not approved any modified version and indicated that it would examine the record to determine who made the changes.

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The petitions were filed by Patna resident Rakesh Kumar Singh and advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi. They allege that Kumar took decisions, issued guidelines and approved software changes without the concurrence of Sandhu and Joshi. The petitioners have asked the court to determine whether powers belonging to the Election Commission as a whole were exercised individually and, if so, to declare such actions unauthorised.

The plea also seeks Kumar's suspension until the final hearing and asks that the commission's business during that period be handled through the other two election commissioners. The petitioners argued that such measures were necessary to preserve the multi-member character of the Election Commission. The case comes against the backdrop of a report claiming that Sandhu and Joshi had raised objections on record on at least 14 occasions over decisions and orders related to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

The Election Commission has rejected suggestions that internal differences have affected the validity of its decisions. It has maintained that differing views and observations are a normal part of institutional deliberations and that its orders have full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures. The Supreme Court's notice now requires the poll body and the Centre to place their responses before the court before the matter is considered further.

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