LI Network
Published on: January 23, 2024 at 13:02 IST
The Supreme Court, on Monday, requested the Election Commission of India (ECI) to provide details on the measures taken to revise electoral rolls and address the challenge of duplicate entries, particularly those involving deceased or relocated voters.
Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora informed the bench that the Election Commission had not responded to the court’s previous order.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud responded, stating that no notice had been issued yet and sought assistance from ECI’s standing counsel, Mr. Amit Sharma. Sharma requested time to submit a response on behalf of the ECI.
The bench, consisting of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra, directed the ECI to file a brief counter within two weeks detailing “the steps taken by the Election Commission for the revision of the electoral rolls concerning duplicate entries.”
The case was brought before the court by Samvidhan Bachao Trust, an NGO. In the previous hearing, Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora argued that the current process of updating electoral rolls primarily focuses on removing names of deceased or relocated individuals.
However, she emphasized that no concrete steps had been taken to address the issue of duplicate entries. Arora also noted that the exercise to tackle these issues should have been completed between July and August of the current year.
Relying on the communication from the Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh, Arora pointed out that no actions had been taken to verify duplicate entries.
The Court, in its last order, decided to serve a copy of the petition on Amit Sharma, the Standing Counsel for the Election Commission of India, before proceeding with the matter.
Case Title: Samvidhan Bachao Trust v Election Commission of India W.P.(C) No. 1228/2023 PIL-W