The Supreme Court has issued notice to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and others on a plea challenging their march to the court over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of electoral rolls. The court observed that nobody can browbeat the judiciary. It also sought responses from the Election Commission, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi on a separate petition filed by Gandhi and other opposition leaders alleging large-scale voter deletions and irregularities in the SIR process. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the petition would be tagged with pending cases. The court also issued notices to the Centre and others on petitions relating to the Election Commission, including one filed by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. It agreed to examine a plea challenging the de-notification of Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site.

 

The proceedings come amid protests demanding the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner over alleged SIR irregularities. Gandhi and other opposition leaders had marched to the Supreme Court on Monday to file their petition.