Posing a series of questions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the procedure followed for revision of electoral rolls, the High Court of Karnataka on Monday directed the ECI to clarify whether there was any guideline laid down for deletion of electors under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
The court also directed the ECI to specify whether acknowledgement, for the claims for inclusion of names or corrections to be carried out in the electoral rolls or objections for any entry, are issued to citizens on receipt of applications in the prescribed forms.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S.R. Krishna Kumar issued the directions during hearing a PIL petition filed by Whitefield Rising Trust, a Bengaluru based NGO, on various lacunae in preparation and revision of electoral rolls.
Of public importance
Terming the issue as that of public importance, the Bench directed the ECI to clarify whether there was any procedure followed to communicate the lacuna or objections to the applicants, and in what manner the copies of orders on rejection of claims or objections or inquiries on claims or objections are furnished to the persons who submit claims or objections.
Outer limit
The ECI has also been directed to specify whether it has fixed any outer limit for deciding the claims or objections for inclusion or corrections in the electoral rolls or objections in the entries in the rolls. Besides, the Bench also wanted an answer from the ECI on how rejection of applications for inclusion of names or carrying out corrections are communicated to the applicants.
Giving a month’s time to the ECI to submit answers to these queries, the Bench adjourned further hearing till December 10.
