Chief Justice of India Declines Meeting with INDIA Bloc Leaders, Directs Opposition to File Petition Over Electoral Concerns

Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant declined a meeting request from INDIA bloc leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, who sought to submit a memorandum on alleged electoral irregularities. The CJI stated the issues were already sub judice and directed the opposition to file a formal petition. The opposition proceeded with plans for a march to the Supreme Court under the banner 'Chalo Delhi—March for Democracy', calling for the Chief Election Commissioner's resignation, suspension of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, and a return to paper ballots. The move followed a meeting between INDIA bloc leaders and President Droupadi Murmu. The BJP responded by accusing the opposition of drawing the President into a political dispute.

Ahead of a planned march to the Supreme Court on Monday, a delegation of INDIA bloc leaders found their request for a personal audience with Chief Justice Surya Kant turned away, the court's head having pointed them toward the formal petition route on the grounds that proceedings covering the alleged electoral irregularities they raised were already under way. Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, who holds the Rajya Sabha's Leader of Opposition post, jointly sought a Monday meeting with the CJI in the 4pm–5pm slot, presenting a memorandum that set out what both politicians characterised as irregularities in the conduct of elections. Organisers drew together opposition parties, civil society bodies, and youth groups behind a march on the Supreme Court, where those taking part pressed for the ouster of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls, and a restoration of paper-based ballots. The Indian National Congress gave the Monday demonstration a formal name — "Chalo Delhi—March for Democracy" — and set the Connaught Place–Barakhamba Road junction as the assembly point at 1.30 pm, while Gandhi, through a video posted to X, described expected participation from young people, opposition parties, and civil society organisations, and conveyed that those attending planned to walk to the Supreme Court the following day, drawing together Indians from across party, gender, caste, community, and state lines. When Rahul Gandhi posted on X that "we will bring her a mountain of it," the BJP characterised the statement as an attempt to pull the president into a political dispute. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra put forward the position that accepting a memorandum does not amount to endorsing its contents, while also contending that Rahul Gandhi had sought to involve the President of India in the political agitation Gandhi has been leading on the ground.

Chief Justice of India Declines Meeting with INDIA Bloc Leaders, Directs Opposition to File Petition Over Electoral Concerns

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Chief Justice of India Declines Meeting with INDIA Bloc Leaders, Directs Opposition to File Petition Over Electoral Concerns

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