Supreme Court Puts Election Commission on Notice as Form 6 Dispute Deepens

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Election Commission and the Union government, giving both a week to respond to petitions challenging how Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has handled key decisions during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant heard two separate pleas, one seeking Kumar's suspension and an independent probe, the other asking the court to determine whether he had exercised powers that legally belong to the full three-member Commission.

The bench stopped short of granting any interim relief, noting it could not act on newspaper reports alone, but said it wanted certified records to establish whether contested decisions were actually taken unanimously or by majority, as the law requires. One petitioner's counsel, pressing for urgency, warned the country would otherwise burn.

A Court Approval That Wasn't

The sharpest moment of the hearing came when the Chief Justice clarified that the court had never approved a modified Form 6 declaration the Commission had introduced during the roll revision, directly undercutting a defence the Commission had offered weeks earlier.

The Election Commission's September 26 press note had suggested the new declaration, which asked applicants about their parents' inclusion in earlier voter lists, was consistent with the court's May ruling on the Bihar revision. Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had reportedly objected internally that the statutory form could not be altered without formally amending the underlying rules, yet the change went ahead regardless and was only withdrawn days before Monday's hearing.

Congress and the Commission Trade Accusations

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seized on the court's remarks, posting that it was now established Kumar had changed Form 6 illegally, a claim the Election Commission called misleading in a same-day rebuttal, insisting the underlying Bihar order had been unanimous and court-upheld. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra accused Gandhi of distorting what had actually been said in court, comparing it to an earlier controversy over the Rafale deal. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, meanwhile, listed three non-negotiable party demands: Kumar's resignation, scrapping the revision exercise entirely, and a return to paper ballots, while Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath defended the revision as necessary for removing ineligible names from the rolls.

A Second Front Outside Parliament Street

Even as the court battle unfolded, the harassment case tied to the weekend's protests kept escalating. The journalist who had accused ACP Vivek Bhagat of sexual harassment was detained again on Monday morning and taken to Delhi Cantonment police station, as activists continued an overnight sit-in outside Parliament Street demanding an FIR against the officer. CJP's legal head Ratna Singh said detainees reported being assaulted in custody, with two allegedly beaten. The Supreme Court separately indicated it would take up a related petition accusing Delhi Police of blocking peaceful assembly at Jantar Mantar altogether.

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