Supreme Court Notice to ECI over CEC's Unilateral Decisions: Majority Rule in a Multi-Member Commission and the Section 16 Immunity Question

On 5 October 2026, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court — Chief Justice of India Surya Kant with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana — issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) on petitions accusing Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of functioning unilaterally, in breach of the 2023 law that governs his office, and seeking his removal. Notice also went to Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg and ECI Director General (IT) Seema Khanna. The Bench refused to suspend the CEC but said any decision taken neither unanimously nor by majority can be annulled, and that it had not approved the modified Form 6 used for enrolling new voters.