The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a plea next week seeking the suspension of CEC Gyanesh Kumar. Petitioner Rakesh Kumar Singh alleged that Kumar took unilateral decisions. Advocate Vikas Singh told the court, "The way the Election Commission is functioning, t serious doubt over whether the decisions are unanimous."
Petitioner alleges unilateral decisions by Gyanesh Kumar, while another case cites objections from fellow commissioners over electoral rolls and statutory powers
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to list for hearing next week a petition seeking the suspension of chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and a direction that the two other election commissioners -- Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi -- be asked to carry out the commission's functions unanimously.
"We will list this next week," Chief Justice of India Surya Kant told senior advocate Vikas Singh during the morning mentioning time, when he requested an urgent hearing. Advocate Singh made the request, saying: "The matter requires urgent hearing. The way the Election Commission is functioning, there is a serious doubt over whether the decisions are unanimous".
The bench, which included Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana, however, did not grant any specific date for the hearing. The present petition was filed by one Rakesh Kumar Singh, a native of Bihar, who urged the court to call for the records and examine whether Gyanesh had been discharging his constitutional duties in accordance with the Supreme Court judgment that the ECI must function as a multi-member body, since there had been reports and allegations that he had taken several decisions unilaterally without consulting the other two commissioners.
"Respondent No. 3 (Gyanesh Kumar) ought to be suspended from functioning as Chief Election Commissioner of India, pending final hearing of the present petition to restore the multi-member character of the Election Commission," Singh's plea stated.
This was the second petition that had been filed before the Supreme Court for action against Gyanesh Kumar.
Another petition filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi, among other things, told the Supreme Court: "It is revealed that out of 38.31 lakh appeals before West Bengal Appellate Tribunals, 16.10 lakh appeals were filed in the name of ECI against restored citizens, following which Sandhu objected in writing: 'Who was authorised to file these appeals on behalf of ECI, and by whom?'"
The petition cited several instances of alleged wrongdoing by Gyanesh, including unilateral and illegal alteration of the statutory Form 6, centralisation and usurpation of statutory powers, disenfranchisement due to software failures, unauthorised subversion in Bengal, bureaucratic usurpation and subversion of oversight, and subversion of multi-member decision-making.