Rahul Gandhi’s SIR petition faces 14 defects flagged by Supreme Court registry

The Supreme Court registry has flagged 14 defects in Rahul Gandhi and 10 INDIA bloc leaders’ petition challenging the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Issues include missing documents, absent vakalatnamas, an illegible identity card and a court fee shortfall.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court registry has flagged 14 defects in the writ petition filed by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and 10 other INDIA bloc leaders challenging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The defects include naming individuals as respondents, failure to annex a copy of an earlier judgment, absence of vakalatnamas from nine petitioners and submission of an illegible copy of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s identity card.

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The Supreme Court registry has also pointed out a shortfall of Rs 220 in the prescribed court fee, according to the defects notified on October 12, the day the petition was filed under diary number 64196/2026.

It has also flagged issues relating to the clarity and legibility of the petition and accompanying documents, including the use of small fonts and other discrepancies. Under the Supreme Court Rules, 2013, the petitioners will have to rectify the defects before the matter can be listed for hearing.

The petition challenges the SIR exercise, alleging large-scale voter deletions and irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls.

Besides Gandhi and Kharge, the petitioners include Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, CPI(M) leader M A Baby, CPI leader D Raja, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Mahua Majhi, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule and Indian Union Muslim League leader E T Mohammed Basheer.

The respondents named in the petition are the Election Commission of India, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

The filing followed a protest march by INDIA bloc leaders towards the Supreme Court on Monday, during which they demanded the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the electoral process.

Earlier, Gandhi had said that Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant advised Opposition leaders to approach the top court through a formal petition after they sought an appointment to raise their concerns over the SIR exercise.