INDIA bloc files Supreme Court petition against SIR after march is stopped near court

Police stopped the INDIA bloc’s march at a barricade on Bhagwan Dass Road on Monday evening, short of the Supreme Court. Around the same time, its lawyers filed the petition the bloc had promised: a writ against the Election Commission of India, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The case, Rahul Gandhi and Ors. v. Election Commission of India, was filed through advocate-on-record S Prasanna late in the afternoon, shortly before the court’s filing counter closed. It carries Diary No. 64196/2026.

Eleven names on the petition

Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi leads the list of 11 petitioners. With him are Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Saugata Roy (Trinamool Congress), Supriya Sule (NCP-SP), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena-UBT), D Raja (CPI), M A Baby (CPI-M), Mahua Majhi (JMM) and E T Mohammed Basheer (IUML).

The petition alleges large-scale deletion of voters and irregularities in the SIR. It asks the court to stay the revision in all states until the case is decided, to order disclosure of the Commission’s SIR records, and to set up an independent committee led by a retired Supreme Court judge to audit deletions. It also asks for booth-wise lists of deleted voters with reasons, and that no name be struck off without notice and a hearing.

On Sunday the Chief Justice, Surya Kant, had declined to meet the bloc’s leaders and told them to file a petition instead. On Monday he indicated the court was ready to take it up on Tuesday if it was filed in time. Other petitions on the SIR are already listed for that day.

How the march ended

Leaders travelled by bus from the Constitution Club of India and set off on foot from Connaught Place’s outer circle at about 4:20 pm. The “March for Democracy” passed Mandi House before police barricades on Bhagwan Dass Road halted it. Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav climbed on top of a vehicle to address the crowd.

“The government must listen to us and remove the chief election commissioner,” Akhilesh Yadav said. CPI general secretary D Raja accused the Prime Minister of staying silent: “PM Modi has not said a word on this.”

Later in the evening, Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Kharge and Akhilesh Yadav went into the court’s registry while other leaders waited at the gates. No detentions of leaders were reported on Monday.

Rahul Gandhi’s charge

At the Congress headquarters, Indira Bhawan, before the march, Gandhi again told the CEC to quit. “Resign, turn approver; you have made a mistake but you are not the mind behind the mistake,” he said, adding that Kumar “will not survive as CEC”.

The other side

The BJP dismissed the march and the petition. “This is baseless... They are lying. The Supreme Court has already ruled on the constitutionality of SIR,” said national spokesperson Guru Prakash Paswan.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta wrote on X: “The credibility of India’s democracy cannot be made hostage to the opposition’s political convenience.” She cited an open letter from 124 former civil servants defending the Commission. There was no public response from the Election Commission by Monday night.

Earlier, in court, the Chief Justice said “the Supreme Court should not be dragged into this”. Asked about the protests at a National Human Rights Commission event, he said, “Ye law and order ka mudda hai. Ye mera vishay nahin hai” (this is a law and order issue, it is not my domain). That remark set off a row after the Congress’s Keralam unit posted, and then deleted, a demand that he resign.

What comes next

On Tuesday the court also hears petitions over the weekend detentions and the contempt plea against the Union Home Secretary, the Delhi Police Commissioner and the DMRC chief. Whether the bloc’s petition joins them depends on the registry clearing it in time.