A Supreme Court plea seeks to prosecute Gyanesh Kumar, the head of the poll body.

A petition against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has been filed before the Supreme Court amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the Election Commission’s decision-making process. The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in response to media coverage of the commission’s significant rulings.

According to the petition, a number of electoral-related decisions were made without the other two Election Commissioners’ approval. Advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi filed the PIL, which also requests a declaration that decisions, rules, and software changes purportedly made by Gyanesh Kumar without the approval of the other two Election Commissioners are invalid and illegal.

It also calls for the reintroduction of the old “Form 6” and wants all those rulings to be ruled unlawful. Additionally, the petition calls for a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the removal of 13 crore voters’ names from the electoral rolls during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

The PIL further calls for the prosecution of Director General (IT) Seema Khanna, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg, and Gyanesh Kumar for allegedly neglecting their duties under the Representation of the People (RP) Act. Following a report in The Indian Express claiming that Election Commissioners’ concerns, especially those regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter registers, were being disregarded, Gyanesh Kumar has come under scrutiny.

Days after The Indian Express revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had filed at least 14 objections to judgments and orders pertaining to SIR, including modifications to Form 6 and the handling of electoral-roll data, the plea was filed.

According to the report, the objections concerned decisions that were purportedly made against their recommendations or without their knowledge. The poll body responded to a report in The Indian Express by stating that “differing views and observations are a natural part of deliberation in any institution” and that all of its judgments over the past year were unanimous.

Since the release of the report, the opposition has also been pushing for the CEC. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi branded Kumar a “traitor”, demanded his resignation and warned that the Congress would not remain mute and watch democracy in India “being destroyed”.