New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday made it clear: it cannot pass an order based on a newspaper report, and will need a response from the Election Commission before deciding if the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar can single-handedly exercise powers constitutionally designated for the entire multi-member poll panel.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant issued notice to the Election Commission, seeking their response on the allegations that Chief Election Commissioner took decisions unilaterally in the poll body, without consensus from the two other Election Commissioners.
"After notice, if they come and show that ABC decisions were taken without unanimity, we will take those decisions back," the court said.
The court was hearing pleas against the Election Commission concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The petition challenged that the powers vested in the poll panel as a multi-member constitutional body are being exercised without following the collective decision-making mechanism mandated by law.
The controversy follows a report in The Indian Express saying Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally raised objections on at least 14 occasions over 10 months over decisions on electoral rolls, voter registration, and the Commission's technology systems.
The Election Commission, however, rejected the suggestion that the reported objections amounted to institutional dissent over final decisions.
The poll panel said that operational queries, inputs and suggestions raised during the draft stage were part of its standard administrative and decision-making process. It maintained that the decisions regarding the schedule of the SIR exercise were unanimous.
