Kamal Nath vs Election Commission Of India

3. In Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1000 of 2018, similar reliefs were pressed. However, the facts as they appear in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 935 of 2018 are taken note of.

5. The main reason for which the petitioner is seeking direction to the respondents to publish voter list in text format and supply the same is that it is necessitated to ensure that the voter list is Writ Petition (Civil) No. 935 of 2018 & Anr. Page 3 of 22 4 properly and fairly drawn, which includes all the eligible voters on the one hand and also excludes the duplicate, fake or incorrect voters. It is stated by the petitioner that he along with senior leaders from the State of Madhya Pradesh submitted a detailed representation on June 03, 2018 highlighting various duplicate, repeat, multiple, illegal, invalid and false entries/voters in the electoral rolls of Madhya Pradesh for Assembly Elections, 2018 and the ECI was requested to address the same. As per the petitioner, there is an increase by 40% in numbers of voters vis-a- vis population numbers of electors in the State of Madhya Pradesh since the last Assembly Election, i.e. in the last five years. It is contended that if voters/electors with birth year 1991- 2001 will attain age of 18 years between 2008-2018, it can be reasonably expected that new voters added in the years 2008- 2018 would be similar to the increase in population i.e. 1,18,18,290. However, it is shocking and alarming to see that increase in total number of voters i.e. 1,45,13,404 (more than 40% increase) in the corresponding increase in population during 2008-2018. Therefore, this additional increase over and above the population increase i.e. 26.95 lakhs of votes in the State of Madhya Pradesh seems inconceivable and incalculable. Writ Petition (Civil) No. 935 of 2018 & Anr. Page 4 of 22 5

14. It can be discerned that the real issue is whether voter list is to be supplied to the political parties in text mode; albeit in PDF form. Therefore, our discussion concentrates on this issue.

23. It is rightly explained by the ECI that PDF documents are primarily of two types/formats, namely:

25. One we read and interpret Clause 11.2.2.2 of the Election Manual in the aforesaid manner, the decision taken by the ECI which is contained in its Instructions dated January 4, 2018 becomes relevant. In those Instructions, ECI has directed its field level functionaries to put only the ‘Image PDF’ of electoral roll in the public domain. We are, therefore, of the opinion that the format in which the draft electoral roll is supplied to the petitioner fulfills the requirement contained in the Election Manual. It may be added Writ Petition (Civil) No. 935 of 2018 & Anr. Page 19 of 22 20 that if the petitioner so wants, he can always convert it into searchable mode which, of course, would require him to put his own efforts.

Having heard Mr. K.K. Venugopal, we direct that the Election Commission of India shall not post any officer/official against whom the disciplinary proceedings has been initiated in any key position in any district.

As far as prayer (d) concerning installation of CCTV cameras inside the polling booth to watch the mobility of persons inside the polling booth and display of such videograph alongwith the number of votes poll outside the polling booth on a display board is concerned, we are of the considered opinion that the same is not permissible and accordingly, the said prayer stands rejected.

The writ petition is accordingly disposed of.”

28. In view of the orders dated October 30, 2017 passed in W.P.(C) No. 983 of 2017 and on the basis of statement given by the ECI in the Court, we do not intend to entertain this relief. 5 Manubhai Chavada v. Election Commission of India & Ors. Writ Petition (Civil) No. 935 of 2018 & Anr. Page 21 of 22 22

The writ petitions are accordingly dismissed.

OCTOBER 12, 2018 Writ Petition (Civil) No. 935 of 2018 & Anr. Page 22 of 22