The Supreme Court has directed the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) to respond in four weeks to public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the rule that allows a voter to be struck off the electoral roll without any intimation.
A bench of justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy on Monday said the matter is purely in the public interest. “We want your response on whether there can be deletion of a name without giving the affected person an opportunity to respond.” The court posted the matter for hearing in January.
In their plea, former bureaucrats MG Devasahayam, Somasundar Burra, and Aditi Mehta referred to the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and Rules 13(2) read with Rules 18 and 20 that allow the Registration Officer to entertain any objection, hold a summary inquiry and rectify any errors without hearing or notifying the affected party.
“The systems and procedures presently in place enable voter data deletion and manipulation without so much as a notice to the citizen whose name is being struck off the electoral roll or even allowing him an opportunity to be heard,” said the petition filed through advocate Aakarsh Kamra.
“In spite of the constitutional guarantee of the right to vote, there have been several instances where the elector reaches the polling booth only to be deprived of the right to cast a vote due to deletion of voter data from the electoral roll.”
{{/usCountry}}“In spite of the constitutional guarantee of the right to vote, there have been several instances where the elector reaches the polling booth only to be deprived of the right to cast a vote due to deletion of voter data from the electoral roll.”
{{/usCountry}}The plea said such deletions are very frequent. “Notwithstanding whether such deletions are malicious or inadvertent, they ultimately result in the deprivation of a citizen’s right to vote. A single voter list across the various elections, local, state and national would also be concomitant to the same.”