SC refuses to entertain plea seeking SIT to probe Rahul Gandhi’s vote theft charge

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition seeking that a Special Investigation Team be formed to look into allegations raised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi about electoral roll manipulation in the Bengaluru Central parliamentary constituency, The Indian Express reported.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi asked the petitioner, Rohit Pandey, to pursue the matter before the Election Commission instead, Live Law reported. In response, the counsel for the petitioner said that a representation had been submitted to the poll panel but no action had been taken yet.

The bench, however, refused to entertain the matter and disposed of it.

“We have heard the petitioner’s counsel,” Live Law quoted the bench as saying. “We are not inclined to entertain the petition, which is purportedly filed in public interest. The petitioner may pursue before ECI, if so advised.”

Pandey, in his petition, had sought an independent investigation into the charges, The Indian Express reported.

He claimed that he had verified the claims and “found sufficient prima facie material to establish” that it revealed “a systemic attempt to dilute and distort the value of lawful votes, thereby necessitating urgent intervention by this Hon’ble Court in the larger public interest”.

Pandey said that he had found thousands of invalid and duplicate entries.

This “strikes at the very root of the constitutional guarantee enshrined under...

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