NEW DELHI:  The Congress, backed by several opposition parties, is reportedly leading efforts to bring an impeachment motion in parliament against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. The parties are circulating an unprecedented petition for sacking the top judge, leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have confirmed.

NCP’s Majeed Memon said 20 signatures have been collected so far. Three Congress leaders, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal and Ahmed Patel have reportedly signed the petition and five more signatories are from the NCP.

Congress leaders said nothing on record on the move that has been confirmed mainly by NCP leaders Majid Memon and DP Tripathi.

“The Congress as the largest opposition party has belatedly initiated the proceedings for impeachment of the Chief Justice of India,” Majid Memon said on Tuesday.

His colleague DP Tripathi said: “I have signed it and others are also signing it and the process is going on.” The CPI-M and CPI have also signed the petition, he said.

The Samajwadi Party today said it supports the petition. “The Samajwadi Party stands with the impeachment motion, which is about bringing independence and unquestionable integrity to the judiciary,” SP leader Ghanshyam Tiwari told news agency ANI.

Mr Tripathi said it is not just corruption, but “the charges are far more serious” and it emanates from the letter that four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court had earlier written stating that there was danger to the independence of judiciary.

The petition refers to allegations that sensitive cases were assigned to handpicked judges and the most-senior judges were ignored; the allegations were raised in January by the four top judges of the Supreme Court after the Chief Justice.

To move an impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of India, signatures of 100 MPs are needed in Lok Sabha. In Rajya Sabha, signatures of 50 members are required.

Leaders of several opposition parties reportedly met and discussed the issue with the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Many opposition leaders, including those from Trinamool Congress, NCP and the CPI(M), have reportedly held discussions over the past few days.

On Tuesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is in Delhi, reportedly held discussions with senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan.