SC flags 14 defects in Rahul Gandhi's plea against EC

The Supreme Court has flagged 14 defects in the INDIA bloc’s petition over voter deletions and alleged irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls. The plea, filed by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and 10 other Opposition leaders, has not yet been cleared for listing for a hearing.The defects include missing or unsigned lawyer authorisations, unclear supporting documents and a court fee shortfall of Rs 220 and an illegible photocopy of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's identity card.
Among the objections listed by the registry were the failure to attach certain "vakalatnamas" (written legal documents), including "small fonts" and the non-submission of "coloured copies" for two particular documents. The Supreme Court registry also noted problems involving dim or illegible text, missing pages, vernacular pages and discrepancies in numbering of certain pages.The registry has also sought clarification on why individual Election Commissioners have been named as private respondents in a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution.
The nine leaders concerned are Saugata Roy, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Sanjay Raut, MA Baby, D Raja, Mahua Majhi, Supriya Sule and ET Mohammed Basheer. The Court has sought clear copies of supporting documents, including digital copies on a pen drive of the Election Commission’s June 24, 2025, decision to initiate SIR and other records concerning voter deletions.