A petition filed before the Supreme Court has sought guidelines to bar political parties from running public campaigns that target a judge or the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in relation to pending matters, outside the procedure for removal of judges laid down in the Constitution.

The plea has been filed following a post by the X handle of the Kerala unit of the Congress on October 12, which said,

"Dear Surya Kant, If law and order is not your domain, resign now. We will find your replacement who can handle it."

The petition says the post addressed the CJI by name, without the courtesy of his title and sought to coerce a sitting Chief Justice who had declined to discuss sub-judice matters outside the courtroom.

It also refers to a post by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra the same evening, "Surya clearly Can't. So we will."

Besides the Union government, the Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, Mahua Moitra and Akhilesh Yadav have been made respondents to the plea.

The plea says that Articles 121 and 124(4) provide the exclusive mechanism for removing a judge, and the demand by the Congress Kerala Unit was an attempt to overawe the Chief Justice which the constitutional scheme forbids.

The petition also says that the claim that a party would find the CJI's replacement is contrary to the constitutional scheme for appointing judges.

It has also cited the resolutions of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association condemning the calls for the CJI's resignation.

The petition has sought directions to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against the respondents after giving them notice and a hearing.

The plea has been filed by advocates Digant Mishra, Divyansh Bisht, Ashish Gopal Garg and Shweta Garg through Advocate-on-Record Utkarsh Jaiswal.