Delhi High Court Refuses To Entertain PIL Against Use Of Ward Volunteers, Village Secretariats For Preparation Of Electoral Rolls In Andhra Pradesh

The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to entertain a public interest litigation seeking direction on the Election Commission of India (ECI) to not utilize the services of Ward Volunteers and Village Secretariats for preparation of electoral rolls in the State of Andhra Pradesh.

The PIL was filed by NGO Citizens for Democracy, representing by its Secretary, a retired IAS officer as well as former State Election Commissioner.

A division bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora disposed of the plea with liberty to the NGO to raise its grievances before the Andhra Pradesh High Court, while clarifying that the rights and contentions of all the parties are left open.

“This court is of the view that the grievance of the petitioner is directed against the G.O.MS. issued by the State of Andhra Pradesh and therefore, it is the High Court of Andhra Pradesh that would have the jurisdiction to entertain the writ petition,” the court said.

The plea challenged the validity of “G.O.Ms.No.104 titled “Panchayat Raj & Rural Development (MDL-I) Department” issued by the Andhra Pradesh Government's scheme of appointing village and ward volunteers of the State “with an aim of helping the government in providing necessary information to the citizens.”

The plea argued that the impugned scheme is illegal, arbitrary and against the Constitution of India.

It was the NGO's case that the decision of Andhra Pradesh Government is a “blatant interferencel in the preparation of the electoral rolls for the Parliamentary and Assembly election process through involvement of Ward Volunteers and Village Secretariats, who are the “party cadre of the ruling party”, instead of involving the teachers in the process of registration of voters.

“It is submitted that the large numbers of the volunteer force at the rate one for every 50 households being involved in the election process and in voting would lead to an increased chance of post electoral violence, if the voting of the households under their watch do not take place in the predicted pattern,” the plea stated.

It added that in the efficacy of fairness and natural justice, independent and objective functionaries are to be entrusted with the duty of preparing electoral rolls with immediate effect in grievance redressal and to restore credibility as well as to serve the ends of justice and any non-government servant with partisan bias such as Volunteers must be kept away from the said process.

Title: CITIZENS FOR DEMOCRACY THROUGH ITS SECRETARY v. ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA AND OTHERS

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 51