SC to hear pleas challenging CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s unilateral exercise of poll panel powers
New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear petitions on Monday questioning whether Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar can independently exercise powers vested constitutionally in the multi-member Election Commission of India (ECI).
According to the apex court’s cause list, a Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana will hear the matter.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh had mentioned the matter before the CJI on September 29. The CJI had then directed that it be listed the following week.
The petition seeks enforcement of the ECI’s collective decision-making system and a writ of quo warranto on the authority under which the CEC allegedly acted in the name of the Commission.
It argues that Article 324 of the Constitution vests the superintendence, direction and control of elections in the “Commission”, rather than in an individual Chief Election Commissioner.
The plea also cites Section 18 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, which requires collective decision-making. In the event of disagreement, matters are to be decided by a majority view.
The petitioner has referred to written communications and file notings allegedly made by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. According to the plea, the two Commissioners recorded at least 14 objections between October 2025 and August 2026 over decisions and actions purportedly taken in the ECI’s name without their consent.
The objections reportedly concern communications and orders issued without the Commission’s approval, the absence of agendas before meetings and minutes thereafter, foreign visits allegedly undertaken without approval, amendments to Form 6, access to the electoral roll database, and appeals filed before tribunals in West Bengal.
The plea further refers to concerns raised by the two Election Commissioners over the alleged “gradual centralisation” of the electoral roll database and changes to the allocation of work within the ECI’s IT establishment.
It has sought a declaration that powers vested in the ECI under Article 324 cannot be exercised or represented as actions of the Commission except in line with the constitutional and statutory framework governing it.
The petitioner has also sought mandatory and declaratory directions for adherence to collective decision-making, along with the production and preservation of records related to the disputed decisions.
The ECI, meanwhile, has said that differences among the Commissioners do not indicate an institutional “rupture”, maintaining that internal objections and written notes are established processes within a multi-member constitutional body.
(Inputs from IANS)