India news: Supreme Court likely to hear Rahul Gandhi's Election Commision plea

India's Supreme Court is poised to examine a petition filed by opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and other lawmakers concerning the extensive purging of over 130 million names from the country's electoral rolls. The petition, named "Rahul Gandhi and others versus Election Commission of India and others," was submitted on Monday following a protest march to the Supreme Court.

The march, attended by Congress and members of the opposition INDIA bloc, student leaders, activists, and civil society, was organized in support of Congress's chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, who is facing allegations of voter roll manipulation to favor Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Election Commission denies these allegations, stating that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise is designed to remove deceased, relocated, and duplicate voters and prevent the inclusion of illegal immigrants.

Neither Prime Minister Modi nor Election Commissioner Kumar have yet addressed the matter publicly. Gandhi's petition requests an interim suspension of the nationwide voter roll revision, an audit of deletions, and safeguards against arbitrary deletions without prior notice.