Ahead of the INDIA alliance’s planned march to the Supreme Court on Monday, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant responded to a letter from the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, advising him to invoke the Court’s judicial powers under Article 32 rather than submit a memorandum.
The opposition’s planned “Chalo Dilli – March for Democracy” comes at a time when there are growing concerns over alleged vote theft, irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, and the conduct of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
According to Bar and Bench, which shared a copy of the letter on social media, CJI Surya Kant told Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge that a “meeting to discuss pending cases would violate the principle of separation of powers and be incompatible with judicial ethics and propriety,” and noted that the apex court does not have any “administrative powers to deal with the issues raised in their letter.”
Responding to the letter written by Gandhi and Kharge, CJI Surya Kant noted that the issues raised were similar to those listed for a hearing before the court on 13 October. He also advised the opposition leaders to invoke the Court’s judicial powers under Article 32 instead of submitting a memorandum. Further, the leaders were informed that they could file petitions physically on Monday between 10:30 am and 4:30 pm or through e-filing at any time.
This story will be updated with additional details.
