1. Mr. P.Nagendra Reddy, learned counsel for the petitioner.
Mr. Avinash Desai, learned Senior Counsel representing Ms. Divya Adepu, learned Standing Counsel for Election Commission of India representing respondent No.1.
Mr. K.Siddharth Rao, learned Standing Counsel for respondent Nos.3 to 5.
2. The petitioner had contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 from Indian National Congress Political Party and lost the same. The petitioner also contested the elections in the Legislative Assembly Elections for the State of Telangana in 2009, 2014 and 2018 and lost the same. The petitioner has filed the nomination paper for Nampally Assembly Constituency.
3. The petitioner had earlier filed a writ petition namely W.P.No.28593 of 2023, in which the grievance pleaded was that the electoral rolls of Nampally Assembly Constituency contains the names of bogus voters, dead persons and persons who are having their names in two Constituencies as well as the voters who have already shifted from Nampally Constituency. The petitioner therefore had sought a direction to the respondents to undertake a special revision of the electoral rolls to delete/remove the names of bogus, shifted, duplicate and the names of voters who were already dead from the electoral rolls of Nampally Assembly Constituency. The aforesaid writ petition was disposed of by this Court by an order dated 12.10.2023. The relevant extract of the order is quoted below for the facility of reference:
“13. After final publication of the electoral roll on 04.10.2023 under Section 21(2)(a) of the Act, the petitioner has not approached the Electoral Registration Officer seeking a direction to invoke powers under Section 21(3) of the 1950 Act.
14. For the aforementioned reasons, no case for interference is made out. However, needless to state that in case an aggrieved person approaches the Electoral Registration Officer either under Section 22 or under Section 23 of the 1950 Act, such a petition shall be dealt with in accordance with law.
15. With the aforesaid directions, the petition stands disposed of.”
4. It appears that the petitioner has not approached the Electoral Registration Officer and it has not been pleaded in the writ petition that he has filed any petition either under Section 22 or under Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The petitioner thereafter submitted a representation on 03.11.2023 in which a prayer was made to Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Mehdipatnam Circle-12 & ERO 63-Nampally, Hyderabad to conduct proper enquiry for the applications received by him after 04.10.2023 for new enrolment/shift and then publish the amendment and additional new roll.
5. The petitioner in this petition has prayed for the following relief:
“For the reasons stated in the accompanying affidavit the petitioner herein pray that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue a writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus to declare the action of the Respondents in not making as Absent, Shift, Death and Duplicate (A.S.D&D) for the objections/grievances submitted by the Petitioner to the Respondent No.5 on 03-11-2023 and 08-11-2023 (personal hearing) for bogus/duplicate/triplicate/shift/death as arbitrary, illegal and violation of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India and Sections 22 and 23 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950 and consequently direct the Respondents to make as Absent, Shift, Death and Duplicate (A.S.D&D) for objections/grievances submitted by the Petitioner to the Respondent No.5 on 03-11-2023 and 08-11-2023 (personal hearing) for bogus/duplicate/triplicate/shift/death and to conduct proper and adequate enquiry of Applications under Form No.6 as per Sections 22 and 23 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950 in the interest of justice.”
6. Thus, it is evident that the petitioner is aggrieved by the action of respondents in not preparing the Absent, Shift, Death and Duplicate (A.S.D&D) List. The petitioner also seeks a direction to the respondents to conduct proper and adequate enquiry of the applications under Form No.6 as per Sections 22 and 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
7. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that under Rule 85D of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, the petitioner is entitled to a copy of Absent, Shift, Death and Duplicate (A.S.D&D) List and the respondents be directed to supply a copy of the aforesaid list to the petitioner.
8. On the other hand, learned Senior Counsel for the Election Commission of India has invited the attention of this Court to the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India and has submitted that the voter information slips will be distributed upto 25.11.2023 and the Absent, Shift, Death and Duplicate (A.S.D&D) List will be prepared thereafter. It is also submitted that there is no provision for supply of Absent, Shift, Death and Duplicate (A.S.D&D) List to the candidates.
9. We have considered the submissions made by learned counsel for the parties and have perused the record.
10. The relevant extract of the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India read as under:
“It is submitted that the allegations made by the petitioner that as per the instructions of the ECI for deletion of ASD voters the respondents have not deleted and not made as Absent, Shifted, Dead & Duplicate (ASD&D) also is not true and correct.
It is submitted that, as per the guidelines issued by ECI in the Handbook for Returning Officer, in order to prepare the ASD List by the BLO, ERO/AERO the Voter Information Slips has to be distributed to the voters. The timeline given by the ECI for distribution of Voter Information Slips starts from last of Nomination i.e., 10.11.2023 till 5 clear days before the day of Polling. There is ample time for such process. Further it is submitted that as per Para No. 10.7.2 of the Handbook for Returning Officer, it reiterated that:
In addition to the working copies of Electoral Rolls, after distribution of Voter Information Slips to the Voters, A.S.D. (Absentees, Shifted and Dead) list has to be prepared by the BLOs. The said list is also to be furnished to the Presiding Officer along with Voters list to avert bogus voting. Further, in order to prevent impersonation at the time of poll, the below noted special measures in respect of Absentee, Shifted and Dead electors, are to be followed: i) List of ASD voters should be prepared polling station wise and it should be ensured that each Presiding Officer is provided with a separate list of Absentee, Shifted and Dead electors (ASD List).
Further, as per ECI guidelines, there is a standard operating procedure given for presiding officers to follow if any voter who is put in ASD list but turns up for voting on the poll day. The SOP is as follows:
In order to prevent impersonation at the time of poll, the below noted special measures in respect of Absentee, Shifted and Dead electors, are to be followed:
i) List of ASD voters should be prepared polling station wise and it should be ensured that each Presiding Officer is provided with a separate list of Absentee, Shifted and Dead electors (ASD List).
ii) On the day of poll, every elector, whose name appears in such a list, shall have to produce EPIC for his/her identification or any one of the alternative photo identity documents permitted by the Commission. The Presiding Officer shall verify the identification document personally and the details should be properly registered by the Polling Officer concerned in the register of voters in Form 17A.
iii) The First Polling Officer shall inform the Polling Agents about the ASD elector who has come to vote by reading out his/her name loudly.
iv) Thumb impression of such electors shall also be obtained in addition to signature against the column of “signature/thumb impression” of Register of voters (Form 17A). The thumb impression shall be in addition to the signature even in the case of an elector who is a literate and can sign.
It is submitted that the contention of the petitioner stating that some of the voters / citizens are submitting a large number of 600-900 applications at a time. Majority of the said applications are Bogus / Duplicate / Fake. In this regard it is submitted that as per the guidelines of the ECI the last date for receipt of claims (Under Form 6) is 31.10.2023 and for processing & disposal of claims shall be completed before the last of nomination i.e., 10.11.2023. Further in the guidelines issued for disposal of claims, proper care has to be taken up for each and every application has to be processed and disposed after proper enquiry and verification at field level and they have been accepted or rejected as per the genuineness. If any objection is raised by the applicant on the decision taken by the ERO, the claimant may prefer for an appeal before the ERO within 15 days and the following rules are reiterated in the Manual on Electoral Rolls.
11.6 Appeal against Electoral Registration Officer’s decisions:-
11.6.1 Under the provisions of Rule 23 of Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 an appeal lies against the decision of the Electoral Registration Officer made under Rule 20, 21 and 21A with regard to claims & objections and also inclusion of names inadvertently omitted. Appeal shall be presented to the District Magistrate or Additional District Magistrate or Executive Magistrate or District Collector or an officer of equivalent rank as may be notified in the Official Gazette by the Election Commission. However, appeal will not have the effect of staying or postponing the final publication of the electoral roll.
11.6.2 The appeal cannot be preferred if the appellant has not availed himself of his right to be heard or to make representation to the Electoral Registration Officer.
11.6.3 The appeal should be in the form of a memorandum, signed by the appellant. It can be presented to the Appellate Authority or be sent to him by registered post. In both these cases, the appeal must reach the Appellate Authority within 15 days of the decision by the Electoral Registration Officer becoming known. The Election Commission has designated the District Election Officer as the appellate authority for this purpose.
11.6.4 The Appellate Authority, on receipt of an appeal, should satisfy himself that the appeal has been presented within the prescribed time and in the manner required. The appeals, which are time-barred or are not in the manner prescribed, should be rejected summarily.
11.6.5 If the appeal is in order, the Appellate Authority should call for the records of the case from the Electoral Registration Officer. He should give the appellant a reasonable opportunity of being heard before recording his final decision on an appeal.
11.6.6 The decision of the Appellate Authority is final.
11.6.7 In case an appellate authority either modifies or reverses the decision of the Electoral Registration Officer, the decision of the appellate authority will take effect only from the date on which he makes the decision.
11.6.8 The appeal should normally be disposed of within 3 weeks. The Electoral Registration Officer on receipt of orders of the appellate authority shall make amendment to the electoral roll to give effect to the decision.”
11. Clause 10.7.2 of the Handbook issued for guidance of Returning Officers reads as under:
“10.7.2 In addition to the working copies of Electoral Rolls, after distribution of Voter Information Slips to the Voters, A.S.D. (Absentees, Shifted and Dead) list has to be prepared by the BLOs. The said list is also to be furnished to the Presiding Officer along with Voters list to avert bogus voting.
Further, in order to prevent impersonation at the time of poll, the below noted special measures in respect of Absentee, Shifted and Dead electors, are to be followed:
i) Last of ASD voters should be prepared polling station wise and it should be ensured that each Presiding Officer is provided with a separate list of Absentee, Shifted and Dead electors (ASD List).
ii) On the day of poll, every elector, whose name appears in such a list, shall have to produce EPIC for his/her identification or any one of the alternative photo identity documents permitted by the Commission. The Presiding Officer shall verify the identification document personally and the details should be properly registered by the Polling Officer concerned in the register of voters in Form 17A.
iii) The First Polling Officer shall inform the Polling Agents about the ASD elector who has come to vote by reading out his/her name loudly.
iv) Thumb impression of such electors shall also be obtained in addition to signature against the column of “signature/thumb impression” of Register of voters (Form 17A). The thumb impression shall be in addition to the signature even in the case of an elector who is a literate and can sign.
v) A declaration shall also be obtained from the ASD electors in the format given below:”
12. Rule 85D of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 provides for supply of copy of electoral roll to the candidates. It is not the grievance of the petitioner that the copy of electoral roll has not been supplied to him. The grievance of the petitioner is with regard to conducting an enquiry and preparation of the Absent, Shift, Death and Duplicate (A.S.D&D) List.
13. It has been stated by learned Senior Counsel for Election Commission of India that the aforesaid list shall be prepared in accordance with the instructions issued by the Election Commission of India as well as the Handbook issued for guidance of the Returning Officer.
14. It is also pertinent to note that the petitioner has not made a prayer in the writ petition for supply of the Absent, Shift, Death and Duplicate (A.S.D&D) List.
15. Therefore, in view of the stand taken by learned Senior Counsel for the Election Commission of India, it is evident that the writ petition is premature. The same is accordingly dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs.
As a sequel, miscellaneous petitions, pending if any, stand closed.
