Plea In Supreme Court Seeks Common Electoral Roll For Parliamentary, Assembly & Local Body Polls; Compensation For Illegal Deletion For Voters List

A plea has been moved before the Top Court seeking a common electoral roll for parliamentary, assembly and local body polls.

The petition filed by MG Devasahayam also seeks for compensation to those who were denied the right to vote due to deletion from the voters list.

"So many instances where people go the voting booth, they have the voter ID, they find out that their name is missing from the Voter's list. If there's requirement of showing notice (before deleting name from voters list), the 1995 judgement in fact, that there must be", Advocate Sarim Naved said, assisted by Advocates Aakarsh Kamra and Kamran Javed.

"That's a part of natural justice. It's in-built", a Bench comprising of Justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy observed.

"But it's not being followed, milords", Naved said.

"That's a different thing. The statute itself provides for it. This Court has already declared the law. Then what don we do? Again, we declare the law?", the Bench asked.

"Rule 18 of the Registration Of Electors Rules, 1960 allows confirmation of objections to inclusion in voters' lists without any inquiry. That's my main grievance", the advocate said.

"We trust the Election Commission and its responsible officers. Generally, they are doing a very good job", the Court observed, before directing to serve a copy of the of the public interest litigation to the counsel for the Union government and the Election Commission of India.

The petition states that the right to vote is the most basic feature of our democracy and the deprivation of a legitimate right to vote not only interferes with the conduct of free and fair elections but is also a significant violation of a constitutional and statutory right to vote.

In spite of the constitutional guarantee of the right to vote, the plea points out that 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.

"This is very confusing for voters particularly in instances where their names may have been present in one electoral roll and are absent in another. Such deletions are unfortunately very frequent and notwithstanding whether such deletions are malicious or inadvertent they ultimately result in the deprivation of a citizen's right to vote."

It is the paramount duty of the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to ensure that all eligible voters are included in the electoral rolls, the petition lamented. So, if certain sections are excluded from the voting process, it would be a denial to their most fundamental right, the plea says.

"That if certain populations are excluded from electoral rolls because of their social and economic disadvantage, it amounts to their disenfranchisement and the denial to them of their most fundamental right in a democracy, namely to cast their vote during general, state, municipal and panchayat elections."

Such deletion of citizens data from the Electoral Roll defeats the very purpose and object of the R.P. Act, 1950 and allows unfettered scope for misuse and abuse of discretionary powers conferred on the Registration Officer.

This apart, the petition also draws light to another issue pertaining to linkage of Aadhar cards and Voter IDs.

The validation of Voter data based on the Aadhar card clearly poses a conflict of interest as Aadhar card is a government sponsored identity—primarily intended to disburse welfare benefits. Whereas Voter ID is a document issued by a Constitutional Authority and that such linking would enable the malicious influencing of voters based on psychometric profiling of voter communities, the petition said.

"That such linking is not provided for in either the Aadhar Act or the Representation of People Acts, 1950 and 1951 and is thus unconstitutional."

The burden of checking whether a voter's name remains or has been deleted from the Electoral Roll cannot be placed on the former. "It is an arduous task for a voter to go through several hundred pages of the Electoral Rolls to check his presence on the Electoral Roll", the petition said.

On these grounds, the plea requested that the prayers be considered urgently given the upcoming Assembly polls in several States later this year. The prayers include:

To declare the Rule 18 of the Registration Of Electors Rules, 1960 as unconstitutional as it allows confirmation of objections to inclusion in voters' lists without any inquiry.

To direct the Election Commission to appoint senior civil servants from outside a particular State / UT, as Special Observers to oversee the electoral registration process to ensure accuracy and objectivity.

The matter is likely to be heard next on November 21.

Case title: MG Devasahayam vs Union of India and anr | W.P.(C) No. 1253/2021 PIL-W