Telangana HC declines to issue orders on KTR, Maganti Sunitha plea on ‘12,000 bogus votes’

Hyderabad: Ahead of the Jubilee Hills bypoll, the Telangana High Court on Thursday heard the petition that alleged that nearly 12,000 bogus votes have been added to the constituency.

The plea urged the court to direct the Telangana chief electoral officer to conduct the elections only after updating the voter rolls correctly.

The plea was filed by Maganti Sunitha, the BRS candidate for the bypoll, and by KT Rama Rao, BRS Working President.

The court disposed of the writ petition without passing any specific orders to the ECI, as the updation of the voters' list is a continuous process that will continue until the last date of nomination.

Petitioners present data on ‘backdoor voter additions’

Dama Seshadri Naidu, Senior Counsel, appearing for Maganti Sunitha and KTR, claimed that ‘unverified bulk editions of voters’ in certain booth numbers and data collected from the ground level showed that an estimated 12,000 outside voters were illegally registered in the Jubilee Hills constituency.

He said they have taken up the same issue with the Telangana State Election Commission on requesting a prompt decision to ‘preserve sanctity of elections.’

Petitioners mentioned SC case about Bihar elections

The senior counsel brought to the notice of the Chief Justice Bench, comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin, about the recent Supreme Court direction to the ECI in respect of updation of the electoral list about the Bihar Assembly Elections.

“The Supreme Court was informed that nearly 65 lakh votes were not included in the draft electoral roll on August 1 and the Supreme Court issued a slew of directions to the ECI on August 14 stating that the ECI is under statutory obligation to make necessary corrections to the electoral list till the last date of filing of nominations and sought a similar direction to the ECI in the present writ petition,” the counsel said.

No complaints on final electoral rolls published, says govt’s counsel

However, Avinash Desai, Standing Counsel for the Election Commission of India and the Chief Electoral Officer, Telangana, said that the contention of the petitioners is not correct as the final electoral roll was published on September 30 and there haven’t been any complaints on the list.

“The contention of the petitioners that 12,000 duplicate votes have been added to the Jubilee Hills Assembly Constituency is not correct. It is approximately 8,000 votes, which are added to the Jubilee Hills Assembly Constituency, and these additions are during the entire year,” the counsel said.

“Moreover, out of these approximately 8,000 votes, 2,200 votes were added for voters who have crossed 18 years of age. The intelligence of the petitioners is not correct and is misconceived,” contended Standing Counsel Avinash Desai.

‘Updating electoral rolls is a continuous process’

Further, the standing counsel informed the court that the updation of the electoral list is a continuous process which goes on throughout the year and the updation of the voters' list will continue till the last date of nomination.

The Chief Justice Bench, after hearing the contentions, disposed of the writ petition, saying that “No specific directions are given to the ECI by this court in the present matter.”

The Chief Justice Bench said that the petitioners have approached the court without waiting for the consideration of their representation to the ECI in October, with the final draft list of voters published on September 30.