The petition said an SIT should be constituted to “conduct an end-to-end technical, forensic, and administrative audit of ECINet and ERONet databases, investigate the institutional circumstances under which 13 crore names were deleted across 30 States/UTs under the SIR” (File Photo)A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court, urging it to declare as illegal “all decisions, guidelines, directives and software modifications initiated, approved, or implemented” under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar “without full Commission concurrence”.The petition filed by Delhi-based lawyer Shailendra Mani Tripathi has sought a probe by an independent, high-powered judicial inquiry commission or a special investigation team headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court in the wake of The Indian Express report on objections by two Election Commissioners to decisions taken by the Election Commission without their knowledge.Tripathi has urged the court to issue appropriate directions to the competent statutory authority to register complaints and initiate prosecution under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 against Gyanesh Kumar, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg and Director General (Information Technology) Seema Khanna and all other officers found guilty of deliberate breach of official duty.The petition refers to “unprecedented constitutional fractures and illegalities committed within the Election Commission of India under Chief Election Commissioner Shri Gyanesh Kumar as exposed by documentary records published on September 23, 2026”.It said “these official files reveal that over a 10-month period (November 2025-August 2026), the other two Election Commissioners – Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr. Vivek Joshi – formally recorded written dissents and objections on at least 14 separate occasions (including four times on a single day) against unilateral, unauthorized, and illegal decisions taken and executed in the name of the Commission”.“These illegal acts include: Unilateral & Illegal Alteration of Statutory Form 6… Centralisation and Usurpation of Statutory Powers: Depriving decentralised Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) of their statutory authority under Section 13B, 22, and 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and centralizing electoral roll management under the Director General of IT (DG-IT) in Delhi… Disenfranchisement Due to Software Failures…Unauthorized Subversion in West Bengal” by “filing over 16.10 lakh unauthorised appeals in the name of the ECI to purge citizens restored by 700 Judicial Officers, without the knowledge, authorization, or sanction of the other two Election Commissioners or the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal… Bureaucratic Usurpation and Subversion of Oversight” and “Subversion of Multi-Member Decision Making”.The plea said the alleged “act of.. Kumar deliberately manipulating the electoral roll bears no ‘reasonable nexus’ or legal connection to his official duties; such an act falls squarely outside the ambit of official immunity and constitutes distinct, personal criminal liability.”Story continues below this adIt said that “in the absence of this legal nexus, the statutory protection available under Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners Act, 2023 becomes entirely ineffective. Although Section 16 bars courts from entertaining or continuing civil or criminal proceedings against the Chief Election Commissioner, this protective shield is restricted strictly to acts performed in the discharge or purported discharge of official duty.”Tripathi said that “from a constitutional standpoint, the Chief Election Commissioner enjoys no personal immunity from criminal prosecution… Article 324 merely grants the Chief Election Commissioner security of tenure (subject to removal by impeachment), not immunity from personal criminal liability.”He urged the court to quash “the unauthorised modifications made to Form 6 on the ECINet/ERONet portal requiring ancestry/last-SIR declarations, and directing the immediate restoration of statutory Form 6 as prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 and permit all eligible adults to register as voters on the basis of original statutory requirements”.The petition said an SIT should be constituted to “conduct an end-to-end technical, forensic, and administrative audit of ECINet and ERONet databases, investigate the institutional circumstances under which 13 crore names were deleted across 30 States/UTs under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR)” and “identify individual culpability for the unauthorised filing of 16.10 lakh appeals and work-allocation subversions”.