Gujarat HC declines to intervene in deletion of voters issue

Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court rejected two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) seeking a judicial inquiry into the controversy of deletion of the names from the voters list in recently concluded municipal corporation elections. The demand for the actions against officials responsible for this mishap was also rejected.

The bench led by Acting Chief Justice Jayant Patel said that it is inappropriate to intervene in the election process as this point. However, the bench directed State Election Commission to follow the rules.

One of the litigation had said almost one lakh people missed the voting because of this fiasco. State Election Commission lawyer Mihir Thakor in their defense said that it was not their fault. The Election Commission of India had given the list after the update and revision. State Election Commission just published it.

The Court said that the issue must not be more than 1000 odd names and as State Election Commission had followed all the rules, there is no need for an inquiry.

The opposition had called it a conspiracy, but the ruling BJP government said they are not to be blamed for this.

With the Court rejecting PILs, the issue seems to go in cold now unless it is repeated again. Many people missed out on their democratic right because of this issue and it also resulted in a low turnout.

There are many different explanations for this. One official said that many homes were found locked when officials went to update the voters list.

Rigging is a problem in the India. While the persons involved goes untracked, practices remain unbridled. Transparency needs to be ensured in all polls across India for a smooth running of democracy.