The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Election Commission and the Centre on a batch of pleas seeking suspension of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and challenging the manner in which the poll panel led by him took decisions, allegedly without the approval of two election commissioners — Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
The PIL urged the top court to determine whether Kumar has been individually exercising powers that legally belong to the Election Commission as a whole, and, if so, to declare those actions unauthorised and take appropriate legal action. “Direct that respondent No.3 (CEC) shall not exercise the functions of Chief Election Commissioner of India pending final hearing of the present petition; direct that during such period, the business of the Commission be transacted by the unanimous decision of respondent Nos. 4 (Sukhbir Singh Sandhu) and 5 (Vivek Joshi); and direct that any appointment to the resulting vacancy be made upon the recommendation of a Committee, including the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India,” the plea read.
It demanded suspension of Kumar pending the final hearing of the petition to preserve the “multi-member character of the Election Commission.”
