Supreme Court bench led by CJI Surya Kant to hear pleas seeking the suspension of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over unilateral decision-making allegations.
Published: October 4, 2026, 9:48 PM IST
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ECI row in Supreme Court
New Delhi: In a significant national development, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a batch of petitions on Monday, October 5, 2026, seeking the suspension of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh KumarA bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, will hear the pleas challenging decisions, guidelines, and software updates allegedly implemented by Kumar without the concurrence of the two fellow election commissionersThe Supreme Court will hear a batch of petitions seeking the suspension of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and challenging the manner in which the Election Commission of India (ECI) executed key decisions under his leadership.
What are the petitioners claiming against CEC?
The petitioners contend that several major administrative policies, operational guidelines and technological changes were implemented unilaterally by the CEC without securing the formal approval or concurrence of the two other election commissioners, a report carried by PTI news agency said.
The PIL, filed by Patna resident Rakesh Kumar Singh, has urged the top court to determine whether Kumar has been individually exercising powers that legally belong to the Election Commission (EC) 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 Nos4 (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 reads.
It demanded suspension of Kumar pending the final hearing of the petition to preserve the “multi-member character of the Election Commission.”
Allegations against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar
The plea comes against the backdrop of an Indian Express report that claimed that election commissioners Sandhu and Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation
Under fire, the EC said differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations in any institution and all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.
The petition has made the Union Law Ministry, the poll panel, Kumar, Sandhu, Joshi, and Maneesh Garg, a senior official of the poll panel, as parties.
(With inputs from agencies)
