Amendment Of Electoral Rolls To Be Made By Electoral Registration Officer, No Need For Writ Petition: Telangana High Court

The Telangana High Court has dismissed a Writ Petition of filed by Politician Feroz Khan seeking special revision of the final electoral rolls of Nampally Assembty Constituency. It held that even final electoral rolls can be amended up till the last day of filing nomination, simply by making a representation to the Electoral Registration Officer.

“The validity of the aforesaid revised electoral roll has not been assailed by the petitioner in this petition. Even otherwise, the validity of the aforesaid revised electoral roll cannot be examined in a proceeding under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. It is pertinent to note that the persons aggrieved by the final publication of the electoral roll have the remedy either under Section 22 or under Section 23 of the 1950 Act to seek amendment, transposition or deletion of any entry."

The counsel for petitioner sought directions from the Division Bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N.V Shavan Kumar to the Election Commission for conducting special revision of electoral rolls as stipulated under section 21(3) of the Representation of People Act, 1950.

The petitioner, a candidate from the Indian National Congress had approached the Court on Thursday (12.10.23) contending that the electoral rolls of the Nampally Constituency consisted of one lakh, thirteen thousand three hundred and ten names (113310) that were bogus, duplicated, etc and the same ought to be deleted from the final electoral roll.

He contended that despite making multiple representations before the Commission, the rolls were still faulty and contained even the list of foreign nationals. It was claimed that the elections were not being conducted in a fair manner, causing the petitioner to lose his seat three consecutive times.

Senior Counsel Avinash Desai appearing on behalf of the Election Commission stated that the election rolls that were issued on 4.10.23, were the revised rolls that were released after taking due considerations of the representations made by the petitioner. He further stated that on 21.08.23 the draft list was published, and as per section 22 and 23 of the 1950 Act, it was open for the general public to raise objections regarding the rolls up for a stipulated time (until 19.09.23).

Adding to that the counsel brought to the notice of the Court that any aggrieved person may approach the commission for deletion/addition of names to the rolls until the last day of nomination, which was scheduled to be on 10th November.

The Bench was assured, that the amendment to the rolls was a continuous process, and even the 'final electoral rolls' are not final and can be amended based on every new piece of information up until last day of nomination.

"In order to entertain a petition, there needs to be an infraction of a right, the right exists, but what makes you think they will not entertain?" CJ Aradhe noted before dismissing the petition.

Counsel for petitioner: ZULFAQUAR ALAM

Counsel for respondents: Avinash Desai, Senior Counsel representing Mohammad Omer Farooq and Divya Adepu, Standing Counsel for Election Commission of India

K. Siddharth Rao, Standing Counsel for Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)

Mohammed Feroz Khan vs. Election Commission of India & Ors.

Click Here To Read/Download Order