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REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 935 OF 2018

KAMAL NATH .....PETITIONER(S)

VERSUS

ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA  AND OTHERS .....RESPONDENT(S)

WITH

WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 1000 OF 2018

J U D G M E N T

A.K.SIKRI, J.

Writ Petition (Civil) No. 935 of 2018 is filed by the petitioner,

who  is  the  President  of  the  Madhya  Pradesh  Congress

Committee, claiming the following reliefs:

“(a) Issue an appropriate writ,  order  or  direction to the Respondents  to  issue  directions  for  conducting  VVPAT verification at least 10% randomly selected polling stations

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in  each  assembly  constituency/assembly  segment  to ensure free and fair elections;

(b) issue an appropriate writ,  order or  direction to  the Respondents to publish voter list in text format as per rules, and  to  expeditiously  decide  all  complaints  qua  final publication  of  voter  list  under  Rules  22(1)(c)  of  the Registration  of  Electors  Rules,  1960  and  to  prohibit deletion of voters from the voter list  without intimation to political parties;

(c) issue an appropriate writ,  order or  direction to  the Respondents to issue fresh guidelines qua VVPAT whilst considering the grounds/issues raised in the present writ petition, including but not limited to random VVPAT checks, mock polls and recounting, quality of Thermal Paper and printing,  collection  of  Paper  Trails  and  storage,  unique identification numbers on VVPAT and paper trail collection boxes, transportation of EVMs and VVPAT before and after polls, First Level Checking (FLC) of VVPAT and posting of officials; and

(d) any such further and other order/orders be passed as may be necessary and deemed fit  and proper in  the facts  and  circumstances  of  the  case  to  subserve  the interest of justice.

2. As can be seen from the aforesaid prayer clause, essentially two

reliefs are prayed for.  First relief is for issuance of directions for

conducting Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) verification

on random basis  for  10% of  the votes.   In  the second place,

direction is sought to provide to the petitioner soft copies of the

draft electoral rolls published on July 31, 2018 in text format; to

decide  complaints  pertaining  to  voter  list  expeditiously;  and  to

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prohibit deletion of voters from the voter list without intimation to

the political parties.

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.

4. We would like to place on record, at the outset, that the detailed

arguments which were advanced by the petitioner  were highly

concentrated  on  the  second prayer,  that  too  for  providing  soft

copies of the draft electoral rolls in text format.  Insofar as the first

relief  is  concerned,  objection  was  raised  by  Mr.  Vikas  Singh,

learned senior counsel appearing for respondent No.1 – Election

Commission  of  India  (hereinafter  referred  to  as  ‘ECI’),  to  the

maintainability of such a prayer on the ground that this issue has

already been dealt with by this Court.  We will take note of the

respective submissions on this aspect at the appropriate stage.

Since, the second prayer has become the bone of contention, in

the first instance, we would like to deal with that aspect.

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

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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.   

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6. The petitioner, accordingly,  made representations to the ECI to

take appropriate  action  to  rectify  the mistakes.   The  ECI  sent

letter dated July 16, 2018 to the All India Congress Committee

(AICC),  inter  alia,  stating  that  the  allegations  made  in  the

representation dated June 03, 2018 preferred by the petitioner

are  not  substantiated.   At  the  same  time,  the  ECI  had  also

admitted, to the following effect, that there were some duplicate

and fake entries in the voter list:

“(a)  INTRA AC – 9664 were found in the repeated entry    (b)  INTER AC – 8278 cases were found in the repeated entry

(c)  Photo Entries – 2,37,234 photo entries found to be suspicious/unclear/blank photos;”

 7. The petitioner also submits that the ECI has, thereafter, dropped

more than twenty four lakh voters from the voter list of the State

of Madhya Pradesh published in January 2018.  The ECI has also

admitted that 2,37,234 photo entries are found to be suspicious,

unclear  and  blank  photos.   On  the  aforesaid  premise,  the

petitioner  submits  that  the  political  parties  should  be  provided

voter  list  in  text  format  so  that  they  are  in  a  position  to

electronically scan the same and find out whether there are any

duplicate or fake voters in the voter list prepared by the ECI.   

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8. In support of the aforesaid demand of supply of electoral roll in

PDF form in text mode, Mr. Kapil Sibal, learned senior counsel,

referred to Clause 11.2.2.2 of Chapter XI of the Election Manual

2016 which reads as under:

“11.2.2.2   Putting  draft  roll  on  website:-  Additionally,  the draft roll  shall be put in public domain, at Chief Electoral Officer’s website, in a PDF format on the same day.  The draft  roll  shall  be put on website in a text  mode and no photographs  would  appear  against  the  elector’s  details. Instead  it  would  indicate  in  the  box  meant  for  the photograph of elector whether the photograph is available or not.”

9. It was argued that as per the aforesaid clause contained in the

Election Manual itself, the ECI was required to prepare the draft

roll in text mode, al beit  without photographs.  The purpose was

to enable the political parties to analyse and scrutinise the data

and based thereupon to give any suggestions that are needed or

submit  objections if  it  is  found that  there are duplicate or  fake

voters.  As against the aforesaid mandate, the ECI has provided

Compact Discs (CDs) containing draft electoral roll published on

July 31, 2018 in PDF non-editable form for all 230 constituencies

of the State of Madhya Pradesh.  Such scanned copies are in fact

images  and,  therefore,  inadequate  for  the  purpose  of  scrutiny

wherein data cannot be analysed.  It is also stated that in 2013

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Assembly Elections in Madhya Pradesh, draft electoral rolls were

provided in text mode.  Similarly, draft electoral rolls, as published

on  July  31,  2018  for  the  State  of  Rajasthan,  have  also  been

provided in text mode.  Departure made in the instant case is

questioned as unreasonable.

10. The ECI has filed a detailed counter affidavit.  It is stated that the

ECI  has  put  the  voter  list  on  website  in  text  mode and even

images on the website are in text mode.  However, the ECI has

taken a conscious decision not to give copies of these voter list to

the political parties in scannable text mode keeping in view the

issue of privacy of voters.  Various averments in the writ petition

are strongly refuted in the counter affidavit.  The ECI has stated

that the petitioner had submitted a representation dated June 03,

2018 regarding various duplicate, repeat, multiple entries/voters

in the electoral rolls of Madhya Pradesh for Assembly elections.

As per the complaint received, 26.76 lakh records were submitted

for  ‘Within AC’ of  91 Constituencies and 26.74 lakh records of

‘Across AC’ of 101 Constituencies.  All these entires have been

verified  physically  in  a  door-to-door  campaign.   In  physical

verification,  23,67,487  electors  were  found  present,  2,34,596

electors were either deleted already or not found enrolled in the

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respective constituencies.  In 46,859 cases, electors were found

to be absent and 16,675 electors were found to be deceased.  In

all such cases, the action for deletion has already been taken.  It

is emphasised that only 8,728 cases were found in the repeated

entry category against which appropriate action has already been

initiated as per law.

11. The ECI accepts that during the process of continuous updation

from January 19, 2018 to July 31, 2018, there was a net deletion

of around 24 lakhs entries from the electoral roll  and it  is also

correct that more than 2 lakh photo entries were flagged as being

unclear/blank/repeated photos but out of these entries, 1,04,284

entries were found to be valid and only 97,687 entries had to be

corrected during the aforementioned continuous updation of the

electoral roll.  Explanation given is that electoral roll updation is a

continuous and ongoing process and the  ECI  as well  as  the

office  of  the  Chief  Electoral  Officer,  Madhya  Pradesh  are

committed to ensuring the purity and correctness of the electoral

roll through continuous addition or deletion of names of electors

on  the  basis  of  door-to-door  survey  by  Block  Level  Officers

(BLOs) and by processing all sort of information gathered through

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NSVP, CEO website or complaints received through the helpline

number (1950), etc.  

12. It  is  also  claimed  that  the  ECI  has  been  taking  transparency

measures  in  electoral  registration.   The  recognized  political

parties are supplied, free of cost, two copies (one hard copy in

pdf with image of electors and another in soft copy without image

of electors) of the electoral roll of the constituencies at the time of

draft publication and final publication under the provision of Rule

11(c)  and  22(c)  of  the  Registration  of  Electors  Rules,  1960.

Further, the unrecognized registered political parties/NGOs/public

can  obtain  soft  copy  of  the  electoral  roll  (without  images  of

electors) in a CD in pdf format on a nominal price of Rs.100/- only

per CD, containing the electoral roll of an Assembly Constituency,

on request.  In addition to the above, as per the ECI’s existing

instructions,  image  PDF  of  electoral  rolls  are  published  on

website of Chief Electoral Officer of the State concerned so as to

be placed in the public domain for view of general public.  The

general  public  can  access  such  image  PDF  of  electoral  rolls

through  captcha  containing  alphabet,  numeral  and  special

characters.

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13. On the basis of the aforesaid averments, Mr. Vikas Singh argued

that the ECI itself does the exercise of de-duplication which was

informed to the political  parties also in the meeting which was

conducted  by  it.   He  also  submitted  with  vehemence  that

representation dated June 03, 2018 of the petitioner was replied

on June 08, 2018 wherein it was clearly stated that corrections

had already been carried out.  According to him, these corrections

took  place  on  May  25,  2018  itself,  i.e.  even  before  the

representation  dated  June  03,  2018  was  submitted  by  the

petitioner.   It  was  duly  communicated  on  June  08,  2018.

Thereafter, draft voter list was published on July 31, 2018 wherein

all the concerns have already been taken care of.  Highlighting

the issue of privacy of voters, it was argued by Mr. Vikas Singh

that in case voter list is supplied in text form, it will enable data

mining of various nature.  For this reason, there was a re-look into

the matter and the ECI had decided to provide the list in image

form.   It  was submitted that  Clause 11.2.2.2  of  Chapter  XI  of

Election Manual 2016, on which reliance was placed, does not

require supply of draft voter list in searchable text mode.  In any

case, it was only an administrative manual and had no statutory

force.  This can always be suitably amended by the ECI having

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regard  to  the  exigencies.   Therefore,  there  was  a  conscious

decision  in  the  form  of  instructions  dated  January  4,  2018  to

supply  non-searchable  text  mode  in  view  of  the  safety  and

privacy concerns of the voters.  Mr. Vikas Singh submitted that

right to privacy has now been recognised as a fundamental right

in K.S. Puttaswamy and Another v. Union of India and Others1

and it becomes the duty of the ECI to take care of that.

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.

15. There is no doubt about the bona fides of the ECI.  It is a matter

of  record  that  in  the  last  25-30  years,  ECI  has  built  up  the

reputation of an impartial body which strives to hold fair elections.

It  is  a  Constitutional  Authority  and  has  been  discharging  its

functions quite satisfactorily.  People of this country, by and large,

trust  this  institution  for  its  impartial  manner  of  discharging  its

functions.  That  is  absolutely  essential  as  well  in  a  democratic

polity  where  ‘We,  the  people’  elect  the  representatives  to  the

legislative assemblies of the State as well as Parliament at the 1 (2017) 10 SCC 1

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Centre.  It is the will of the people which should be truly translated

into  reality.  In  that  sense,  the  function  of  ECI  becomes  very

important and it is supposed to discharge the same with utmost

integrity, impartiality and objectivity.  In re: Special Reference No.

1  of  20022,  this  Court  emphasised  the  importance  of  Election

Commission in the following manner:

“105.  ...The duty of the Election Commission is to conduct fresh  election  and  see  that  a  democratically  elected Government is installed at the earliest and any decision by the Election Commission, which is intended to defeat this very avowed object of forming an elected Government can certainly  be  challenged  before  the  Court  if  the  decision taken  by  the  Election  Commission  is  perverse, unreasonable or for extraneous reasons and if the decision of  the  Election  Commission  is  vitiated  by  any  of  these grounds the Court  can give appropriate  direction for  the conduct of the election.”

16. In  the  process  of  conducting  fair  elections,  the  ECI  is  also

supposed to ensure that only genuine voters cast their votes.  It

has to ensure that there are no duplicate, fake or incorrect voters

in the voting list prepared by it.  It has also to ensure that genuine

voters are not left out.  Voter list should, therefore, be genuine in

all respects.  It is for this reason the ECI prepares draft voter list.

While doing so, it attempts to remove duplicate, repeat or fake

voters.  It  also endeavours to include all  genuine voters.  This

2 (2002) 8 SCC 237

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process  is  not  only  undertaken  with  the  aid  of  mechanical

devices, namely, computer etc. but by sending its manpower on

door-to-door basis.  For the same reason, namely, to ensure that

voter lists are flawless, these lists are put on the website for the

voters  to  see  and  those  who  are  excluded  can  make

grievance/representation about the same.  Likewise, for the same

reason, the copies of the voter lists are supplied to the political

parties as well and their objections are invited.  This is done to

give chance to the political parties to go through these lists so

that they are able to point out any errors, if any, in these lists.

The ECI even holds all  party meetings for  this  purpose where

such issues are discussed.   

17. The ECI claims that it has taken all necessary steps in this behalf.

18. It  is  stated  by  the  ECI  on  affidavit  that  draft  electoral  roll  of

January  19,  2018 was rectified  by ECI  around May 25,  2018,

whereas the first complaint of the petitioner and the political party

to  which  he  is  affiliated  regarding  duplication/multiplication  of

voters is dated June 03, 2018.  Thereafter, ECI gave a detailed

reply to the petitioner and his political party on June 08, 2018,

June 15, 2018 and July 16, 2018, pointing out that the electoral

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rolls had been rectified.  Furthermore, ECI also supplied a copy of

the rectified draft electoral roll to the petitioner, and the political

party to which he is affiliated, on July 31, 2018.  It was also stated

at the bar that ECI has also now published the Final Electoral Roll

on September 27, 2018 and supplied a copy of the same to the

petitioner  (and  his  political  party)  wherein  all  such

defects/discrepancies find no place as they have already been

rectified  earlier.   The  ECI  has  explained  that  revision  and

updation of the electoral roll is a continuous process, which the

ECI is diligently pursuing continuously3.   

19. In the aforesaid context, we need to examine the demand of the

petitioner for supply of electoral roll in text format.  This demand

is based upon Clause 11.2.2.2 of the Election Manual which has

already been reproduced above.  This clause places an obligation

on the ECI to put the draft roll on its website in PDF format.  The

purpose is to bring it in public domain so that each voter is able to

3 It may be mentioned that Mr. Vikas Singh, learned senior counsel, appearing for the ECI took strong exception to the production of documents from a private website on September 20, 2018 and handing over the same to the Court during hearing wherein on the basis it was sought to be demonstrated that there were mistakes in the electoral rolls inasmuch as same face was shown against as many as 36 voters.  He submitted that it was done to prejudice and mislead this Court as the aforesaid error pointed out by the petitioner had already been rectified around May 25, 2018 and this fact is informed to the petitioner as well.  According to him, thereafter there was no cause in filing the present petition and, in any case, no reason to submit the said document.  Mr. Sibal, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner, on the other hand, contended that the purpose of producing the aforesaid document was to show that glaring mistakes of this kind have been committed earlier, which could be rectified only after the petitioner pointed out these mistakes.  Be that as it may, we leave the matter at that.   

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access the same and find out whether his/her name is correctly

shown and in case of any error, the said voter is in a position to

get  the same rectified.   Likewise,  in  case a  particular  voter  is

missing from the list, that individual would be in a position to take

up the matter with the ECI for inclusion of his/her name.  A copy

thereof is also given to the political parties as well, because these

political parties have equal interest in ensuring that the aforesaid

mistakes  are  removed.   They  can  additionally  check  as  to

whether there are duplicate or fake voters also in the list and seek

correction thereof.  To this extent, there is no quarrel.  However,

the second part of the aforesaid clause mentions that draft roll

would be put in a ‘text mode’.  It also states that no photograph

would appear  against  the electors’ details.   The entire  dispute

hinges upon the meaning that is to be assigned to ‘text mode’.

The argument of the petitioner is that ‘text mode’ is the one which

provides  searching  techniques  as  well.   For  this  purpose,

following  description  of  ‘full  text  search’  from  Wikipedia  is

produced:

“In  text retrieval,  full-text search refers to techniques for searching  a  single  computer-stored  document or  a collection  in  a  full-text  database.   Full-text  search  is distinguished  from  searches  based  on  metadata or  on parts of the original texts represented in databases (such

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as  titles,  abstracts,  selected  sections,  or  bibliographical references).   

In a full-text search, a  search engine examines all of the words in every stored document as it tries to match search criteria (for example, text specified by a user).   Full-text- searching  techniques  became  common  in  online bibliographic databases in the 1990s.  Many websites and application programs (such as  word processing software) provide  full-text-search  capabilities.   Some  web  search engines,  such  as  AltaVista,  employ  full-text-search techniques, while others index only a portion of  the web pages examined by their indexing systems.

20. Refutation  of  Mr.  Vikas  Singh  is  that  ‘text  mode’  in  Clause

11.2.2.2 of the Election Manual relates to the ‘content’ of the draft

electoral roll and not its ‘format’.  It is argued that prescription in

the  aforesaid  clause  of  the  Manual  requires  putting  the  draft

electoral roll in text mode which would mean that it should contain

only the text of the elector’s details such as his name, address,

age, etc. and not his/her photograph.  It is explained that any PDF

document generally contains two kinds of content: (i) Text and (ii)

Pictures/Photographs/Pictorial  Content.   Any  elector’s  details

would include his name, age, address, etc. (i.e. ‘the text part’) as

well  as  his  photograph  (i.e.  ‘the  photograph/picture/pictorial

content part’).  Thus, the use of the phrase ‘text mode’ in Clause

11.2.2.2 of the Election Manual only means that the draft electoral

roll  put  up  on  the  Chief  Electoral  Officer’s  website  shall  only

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contain  ‘text’  of  the  elector’s  details  and  not  his/her

‘photographs/pictures/pictorial content’.  It is also explained that

every  PDF  document,  whether  it  is  a  searchable  or  non-

searchable/Image PDF and which contains any text content in a

‘Text Mode’ is PDF in that sense.  It is further submitted that there

is nothing called a ‘Text  Mode’ format of  a PDF document.  A

simple  ‘Google  search’  in  that  regard  would  also  clearly  and

conclusively establish the same.   

21. We find force in the submission of the ECI.  Clause 11.2.2.2 of

the Election Manual uses the expression ‘text mode’.  The draft

electoral roll in that mode, i.e. text mode, has been supplied to

the petitioner.  The clause nowhere says that the draft electoral

roll has to be put up on the Chief Electoral Officer’s website in a

‘searchable PDF’.   Therefore, the petitioner cannot claim, as a

right, that the draft electoral roll should be placed on the website

in a ‘searchable mode’.  It has only to be in ‘text mode’ and it is so

provided.   

22. The  document  from  Wikipedia  relied  upon  by  the  petitioner

relates to ‘full text search’ and not ‘text mode’.  Obviously, when

the  said  document  explains  how  ‘full  text  search’  is  to  be

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undertaken, the explanation would be that it is a search engine

which examines all of the words in every stored documents and

would provide full text searching techniques as well.  However,

the  absence  of  the  words  ‘search’  in  Clause  11.2.2.2  of  the

Election Manual would make all the difference.   

23. It  is  rightly  explained  by  the  ECI  that  PDF  documents  are

primarily of two types/formats, namely:

(i) “Image-only” or Scanned PDFs – When scanning hard copy

documents on MFPs and office scanners, or when converting a

camera image, jpg, tiff or screenshot into a PDF, the content is

“locked”  in  a  snapshot-like  image,  without  an  underlying  text

layer.   Such  image-only  PDF  documents  contain  just  the

scanned/photographed images of pages.  Image-only PDF files

are  not  searchable,  and  their  text  usually  cannot  be  selected,

searches or copied.

(ii) Searchable  PDFs –  In  Searchable  PDFs,  a  text  layer  is

added to the image layer, usually placed underneath.  Such PDF

files are almost indistinguishable from the original documents and

are fully searchable.  Text in searchable PDF documents can be

selected, searched and copied.   

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24. Once we find that Clause 11.2.2.2 does not entitle the petitioner

to get the draft electoral roll in the text mode which is searchable

as well viz. in ‘full text search’ form, it is for the ECI to decide

about the format in which the draft electoral roll is to be published.

ECI has given the reasons for not adhering to the request of the

petitioner  in  providing  draft  electoral  roll  in  searchable  PDF

format.  According to it, issues of privacy of voters are involved

and the move of ECI is aimed at prevention of voter profiling and

data mining.  According to ECI, ensuring free and fair elections, to

which it is committed, also necessitates that ECI is duty bound to

protect the privacy and profiling of electors.  Therefore, it is duty

bound to  take all  precautionary  measures.   However,  it  is  not

necessary to go into this aspect.

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

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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.  

26. Other relief which is claimed by the petitioner is to seek directions

for conducting VVPAT verification at least 10% randomly selected

polling stations in each assembly constituency/assembly segment

to ensure free and fair elections.  In this behalf, our attention was

drawn by the respondents to Rule 56(d).  It was also submitted by

the respondents that this issue cannot be raised by the petitioner

having regard to the orders passed on earlier occasions in few

writ petitions which were filed on this aspect.  The respondents

referred  to  orders  passed  in  Prakash  Joshi  v.  Election

Commission of India4.  In that case also, where identical prayer

was made, the petition was disposed of by orders dated October

30, 2017 in the following manner:

“Mr. K.K. Venugopal, learned Attorney General submits that as far as Prayer (a) is concerned, the Election Commission of India has already implemented the same. The situation is accorded to by Mr. Amit Sharma, learned counsel for the Election  Commission  of  India.  As  far  as  Prayer  (b)  is concerned,  it  is  urged  by  Mr.  K.K.  Venugopal  that guidelines  have  already  been  brought  by  the  Election Commission of India.  The same is disputed by Mr. Kapil Sibal  and  Mr.  Vivek  Tankha,  learned  senior  counsel appearing for the petitioner. We leave it to the discretion of

4 Decided on October 30, 2017 in W.P. (C) No. 983 of 2017

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the Election Commission of India, as we are not inclined to enter into the said arena. As far as Prayer (c) is concerned, it  is  submitted  by  Mr.  K.K.  Venugopal  that  the  Election Commission  of  India  has  issued  appropriate  guidelines, and this Court may say that no officer/official against whom disciplinary  proceedings  have  been  initiated  shall  be posted in any key positions.  

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.”   

27. Another writ petition being W.P.(C) No. 1012 of 20175 was filed

before  this  Court  in  October  2017  itself,  with  almost  identical

prayer.  This was dismissed in limine on November 20, 2017.  In

the counter affidavit, ECI has also referred to similar writ petitions

filed in the High Court of Gujarat, which met the same fate.

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.

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The writ petitions are accordingly dismissed.

.............................................J. (A.K. SIKRI)

.............................................J. (ASHOK BHUSHAN)

NEW DELHI; OCTOBER 12, 2018

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