SIR

Timing suggests that, before the petitioner, an apparent bid to influence the Supreme Court's decision on CEC Gyanesh Kumar and SIR was made by former apex court judge Rohinton Nariman and sitting judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan at non-judicial forums.  In addition to Nariman and Bhuyan, ex-judge Madan Loku joined a private body-constituted inquiry commission on SIR, apparently to run parallel judiciary on ideologically significant issues.

Former Supreme Court judge Rohinton Nariman and sitting judge Ujjal Bhuyan have in their separate speeches delivered recently cast aspersions on the integrity of the Election Commission and alleged pro-BJP conspiracy in the SIR exercise, even as facts do not corroborate their claims.

Senior lawyers such as Kapil Sibal, Prashant Bhushan and others will assist the “independent commission” on SIR.

While Justice Lokur has been critical of the government at home, he has had warm and cordial relations with Pakistani judges. In January 2019, the former apex court judge attended the swearing-in ceremony of the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Asif Saeed Khosa, who is also said to be his close friend.

During the press conference, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke attacked CEC Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), voter name deletions, and the Indian Express report on internal dissent in the Election Commission.

Indian Express’ ‘ECI crisis’ narrative unravels under scrutiny, with dissenting notes presented as institutional collapse and sweeping centralisation claims contradicted by the ECI and ground-level EROs.

The ECI also clarified that it has not served any notice to Rao or his family so far, taking into account his stature and contribution to the country.