Supreme Court grants three-week extension to Centre, ECI in plea over election rules

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday granted an additional three weeks to the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) to respond to a batch of petitions challenging provisions of the Election Rules, 1961, which allegedly limit public access to election-related records.

The petitions argue that the rules restrict access to crucial materials such as CCTV footage, webcasting recordings, and videos of candidates.

The matter came up for hearing earlier this week, during which both the Centre and the ECI sought more time to file their responses. The court allowed the request and scheduled the matter for a later hearing.

The petitions were filed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj, and others. The petitioners have urged the court to direct the Election Commission to produce documents related to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, including Form 17C Part I for constituencies in Delhi.