Visuals showed a heavy gathering of lawyers along with security personnel outside the Supreme Court on Monday amid protests in Delhi against CEC Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
The developments come amid political friction in the national capital, with opposition parties staging protests in the streets. Follow live updates on the Delhi protests here.
‘Matter of principle, not a protest’: Abhishek Manu Singhvi
Earlier in the day, speaking to reporters, senior advocate and Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi outlined the collective decision taken by multiple opposition parties to approach the Supreme Court.
“It’s very simple. There is no protest march; we are going on a matter of principle. All diverse political parties to file the petition before the Supreme Court,” Singhvi said.
Opposition leaders file petition in SC
Leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and others on Monday filed a petition in the top court over alleged voter deletions and irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls. The petition is likely to be heard on Tuesday.
The petition was filed by Gandhi along with Congress president and Rajya Sabha leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy, Samajwadi Party President and MP Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejaswi Prasad Yadav, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby, CPI general secretary D Raja, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MP Mahua Majhi, MCP (Sharad Pawar) MP Supriya Sule and Indian Muslim Union League (IUML) MP ET Mohammed Bashir, as reported by HT.
The petition has been filed through advocate S Prasanna and names the Election Commission of India (ECI) along with CEC Kumar and the two commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, as respondents.
SC says lawyers have right to join peaceful protests
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Monday emphasised that every lawyer has the right to participate in peaceful protests at designated locations, according to news agency PTI.
The observations were made when a bench was told by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan that lawyers were detained and that there were instances of “police excesses” during demonstrations against the CEC, it added.
(with inputs from agencies)