A petition has been submitted to the Supreme Court requesting the criminal prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The plea alleges that Kumar has violated his statutory duties during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The details of the allegations were reported by Live Law.
The plea also seeks to have these actions declared unconstitutional and void. SIT sought to probe discrepancies in SIR Advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi filed the petition under Article 32 of the Constitution, challenging decisions, guidelines and software changes allegedly carried out by Kumar without the concurrence of the other two Election Commissioners, according to the report. The petition was filed days after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on at least 14 occasions over decisions and orders concerning the SIR, including changes to Form 6 and the management of electoral-roll data. The petitioner has further sought directions to the competent authority to file complaints and launch prosecution under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, against Kumar, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg, Director General (IT) Seema Khanna, and any other officials found responsible for the alleged dereliction of official duty, according to Live Law. The plea relies on Section 32, which prescribes punishment for specified breaches of official duty concerning the preparation, revision, or correction of electoral rolls. The petition alleges that the violations include unauthorised changes to Form 6 and the centralisation of electoral-roll databases. Tripathi’s plea also reportedly refers to the alleged failure to restore eligible voters through the ECINet system and the filing of 16.10 lakh appeals in West Bengal challenging the inclusion of voters purportedly in the name of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the report added.
The report said the decisions related to objections allegedly taken without their knowledge or contrary to their recommendations.
The proposed panel would conduct a forensic audit of the ECINet and ERONet databases and examine the circumstances surrounding the alleged deletion of 13 crore names across 30 States and Union Territories during the SIR exercise. The petitioner has also sought the identification of those responsible for allegedly filing 16.10 lakh appeals in West Bengal challenging the inclusion of voters without authorisation.
The petitioner has sought an independent judicial inquiry or a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and assisted by cybersecurity and IT experts, according to the report. Earlier, The CJP founder on Thursday (September 24) demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and warned of a “Jantar Mantar 2.0” protest if his demand was not accepted.
