Supreme Court seeks responses from opposition leaders over October 12 march to the court

The Supreme Court on October 15 issued notice to Congress, Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders on a plea about their October 12 march to the court, and issued notice to the Election Commission on opposition petitions about the revision of electoral rolls, according to reports published on October 15 and 16.

The march and the refused meeting

On October 12, Rahul Gandhi led an INDIA bloc march toward the Supreme Court, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, according to Scroll.in. Gandhi had asked to meet Chief Justice Surya Kant. Scroll.in, citing LiveLaw sources, reports that the Chief Justice declined because the questions were already pending before the court. An IANS report in Telangana Today also cites sources and does not describe a formal letter. A report in Morung Express describes a letter to Gandhi and Kharge saying a meeting on pending cases would breach the separation of powers and that a properly filed petition would be heard at the earliest.

Gandhi said the march was of all Indians, not of one party, according to Telangana Today. Gandhi and 10 other opposition leaders filed a writ petition the same day challenging the SIR and alleging large-scale voter deletions, according to Morung Express. It names the Election Commission, Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi as respondents.

Reactions

Union minister Kiren Rijiju wrote on X that protest is every citizen's right but that abusing constitutional authorities was deplorable, according to Odisha Bytes. Former Solicitor General Harish Salve told IANS that the Opposition was using the court as a political tool and that allegations against the Chief Election Commissioner should be taken up through legal channels, according to Odisha Bytes. The Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association passed a resolution backing the Chief Justice's position that no action should obstruct the functioning of courts, Morung Express reports.

The October 15 hearing

Two reports describe the hearing, and they differ in detail. According to Greater Kashmir, a bench of Chief Justice Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi heard a plea by four lawyers, argued by Senior Advocate Gaurav Bhatia, seeking restrictions on political demonstrations within court premises. It issued notice to the Indian National Congress, Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and others. Bhatia argued that such demonstrations were an attempt to intimidate the judiciary. The Chief Justice responded, "Nobody can browbeat the judiciary."

The plea also sought criminal contempt action against the Congress's Kerala unit over an X post that asked the Chief Justice to resign. Greater Kashmir reports that the bench declined to issue notice on that request for now and would first see the respondents' replies.

Odisha Bytes reports that the court issued notice to the Election Commission, Kumar and the two other Election Commissioners on the opposition petitions, that it said notice did not mean it condoned the leaders' conduct, and that it wanted to know the conduct of one leader at the next hearing. It also reports that the court directed that CCTV recordings from its premises during the protest be preserved.