Supreme Court to hear pleas on the CEC and SIR on 5 October

The Supreme Court's daily cause list for Monday, 5 October 2026, puts two fresh pleas before the Chief Justice's Court at 10:30 am. The bench is Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana. Item 22 is Rakesh Kumar Singh v. Union of India, W.P.(C) 1246/2026. Item 23 is Shailendra Mani Tripathi v. Union of India, W.P.(Crl.) 401/2026. Both are listed for admission. A listing is not a ruling. This note does not describe an order from 5 October. None is known.

Neutral Politics checked the court's cause-list PDF, The Hindu, The Indian Express, two LiveLaw reports, two India Today reports, the Supreme Court Observer, and Dynamite News. The check was on 3 October 2026 (IST). This note was posted at 10:56 am IST that day. What follows was the position at about 9:00 am IST the same morning. The hearing itself is listed for 10:30 am IST on 5 October.

The cause list was generated at 11:04 pm IST on 30 September. The items read here are 18, 22 and 23, on the Chief Justice's Court list. On 29 September the bench agreed to list Singh's plea early. The Hindu's report of that agreement is dated 29 September. LiveLaw's report, that the court would take up the plea the following week, is also dated 29 September. The Indian Express account is timed at 1:30 am IST on 30 September. Dynamite News, timed at 1:56 pm IST on 2 October, reports that the pleas are on the list for 5 October.

Singh's prayers are his claims, as the reports set them out. They are not findings. The Hindu reports that he seeks a quo warranto on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's authority to act for the Commission, an interim bar on his functions as Chief Election Commissioner, and an order that records be preserved. The Indian Express reports that he seeks a declaration that the Special Intensive Revision, SIR, is invalid. LiveLaw and The Indian Express report that the plea cites at least 14 objections, which the plea alleges were recorded by Election Commissioners Sandhu and Joshi. The number 14, and those names, are the petition's account.

Tripathi's prayers are his claims as well. India Today, in its 26 September report of a petition seeking action over SIR, says he asks that decisions taken without the full Commission's concurrence be declared void. LiveLaw reports that he seeks a special investigation team, or an inquiry under a retired Supreme Court judge, and prosecution under Section 32 of the RP Act, 1950. The figure of 13 crore deletions is the petitioner's, as LiveLaw states it. Neutral Politics has not established that figure from the electoral roll. The Supreme Court Observer's page on the challenge to the Chief Election Commissioner's powers, updated on 30 September, is Tripathi's case against the Union of India.

The Commission's statement is a separate record, from before this cause list. India Today, timed at 8:01 pm IST on 26 September, reports that the Election Commission said the nationwide SIR orders had the unanimous approval of all three commissioners, that differing views are normal, and that letters from the Cabinet Secretary concerned an officer on deputation. That is the Commission's account of its own orders. It is not a reply in these two cases. No response from the Commission to the pleas was found in the reports checked.

Item 18 on the same list is Bijoya Paul v. the Election Commission of India. What that matter concerns is not confirmed in the material checked. Also not known: whether the Commission or the Union says anything in court on 5 October, and whether the bench passes any order that morning.

The cover is a stock photograph of a wooden gavel on a table, from Pixabay. It is illustrative. It is not a photograph of the Supreme Court, of the judges, or of this listing.

What's next

The hearing is listed for 10:30 am IST on 5 October. What the court does then is not known.