Live: Supreme Court defers hearing on petitions against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Karnataka voter list update and latest developments

Days after a traders association urged him to delay the opposition alliance November 1 rally opposing vote theft, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday asked businessmen to convey to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he should remove accused number four, CEC Gyanesh Kumar, asserting that agitations would cease within 30 seconds. Rahul Gandhi urged Delhi merchants to pressure Modi into dismissing Gyanesh Kumar, maintaining that demonstrations would come to an end in half a minute.

Karnataka's updated electoral roll under the Special Intensive Revision has been officially released, with area-wise voter lists now accessible on the Chief Electoral Officer's portal. The state electorate is now at 4,55,00,011, marking a drop from the previous 5,54,32,314 voters recorded before the exercise began. More than 99.32 million names have been expunged as part of the drive initiated with the declared objective of ensuring the inclusion of every eligible voter and the removal of ineligible entries to achieve a pristine voter base. Overall net additions continue to stay significantly lower than the deletions witnessed at the draft stage, leaving nearly one crore fewer voters on the concluding roll compared to the pre-SIR figures.

The poll panel has offered a fine justification against allegations that it arbitrarily modified Form 6 to introduce extra-statutory mandates for voters whose names were deleted during the Special Intensive Revision to regain their place on electoral rolls. The election authority has incorporated an additional declaration form alongside Form 6, compelling such voters to furnish details of their past electoral entries or those of their parents and grandparents. The commission labels this exercise as mapping, while any perceived shortfall or mismatch in details is broadly categorized as a logical discrepancy. In Delhi alone, there were initially 3.312 million instances of unmapped status or logical discrepancies. ECI defends adding a declaration alongside Form 6 amidst Supreme Court scrutiny regarding the revised Form 6 and voter mapping throughout the SIR.

The Supreme Court on October 5 distanced itself from the debated alterations executed in Form 6 for registering fresh voters during the Special Intensive Revision of rolls across multiple states, thereby shifting focus toward the Election Commission of India. The apex court sought responses from the ECI and the Centre following petitions alleging unilateral decisions driven by the CEC and immunity concerns within the country election management.

A joint affidavit submitted on behalf of the poll panel, CEC Kumar, and Election Commissioners Sandhu and Joshi states that any move to curtail the CEC duties runs counter to the 2023 legislation, while asserting that Form 6 remained unaltered and that West Bengal CEO officials filed appeals against inclusions. ECI defends the independence, rulings, and integrity of Form 6 concerning the CEC, elaborating on multi-member consensus and provisions of the 2023 Act before the Supreme Court.