Supreme Court notice to Election Commission over deletion of 46 lakh voters

New Delhi, December 14

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Election Commission (EC) and others on a petition alleging deletion of 46 lakh entries from electoral rolls in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana by the poll panel in 2015.

A Bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud asked the EC, the Centre, governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and the election commissions of the two states to respond to the petition filed by Hyderabad resident Srinivas Kodali and posted the matter for hearing after six weeks.

Kodali has challenged an order passed by the Telangana High Court, which said it did not find any reason to grant the reliefs sought in the PIL. In an effort to “purify” electoral rolls, the EC in 2015 had suo motu deleted 46 lakh entries from the electoral rolls in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and linked the electors’ photo identity card (EPIC) with Aadhaar, he alleged.

The EC had also seeded EPIC data with the state resident data hub and allowed the state governments to access and copy EPIC data, he submitted. Voting rights of millions of voters in the two states were deprived without due process and the poll panel's actions “threatens the sanctity and integrity of elections”. — TNS

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