Delhi HC directs Election Commission to address voter list duplication

This comes after a petition filed by Rashtravadi Adharsh Mahasangh claimed that lakhs of duplicate voters have been enrolled, which undermined the integrity of the democratic process.

However, the bench, led by Acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru, responded, "Such matters arise before every election." The Court also asked the Commission to explore technological tools that could help eliminate such duplication in future electoral rolls.

During the proceedings, the petitioner's counsel stated that the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections would conclude before the Election Commission could address the issue. On this, the bench emphasized that while there is a process for the revision of the electoral roll, it could not be undertaken at this stage given the timing of the elections.

Advocate Sidhant Kumar, representing the Election Commission, argued that the petition failed to provide any specific instances of alleged duplication in the vote that the Commission had already initiated the required procedures for revising the electoral rolls, and that the issue had been previously addressed by the Supreme Court.

The court noted that the petitioner claims the electoral roll contains numerous duplicate entries and that no steps have been taken to remove them. He further mentioned the availability of two technological tools to address the issue and requested directions for their use to eliminate these duplicates. In response, the Election Commission stated that the necessary procedures had been followed to revise the electoral roll and technological tools had already been employed to remove duplicate names, thereby rendering the grievance moot.

Considering the circumstances, the court found it appropriate to dispose of the petition with the direction that the respondents address the petitioner's concerns at an appropriate stage. The petition was disposed of with these observations.

The petition filed by Rashtravadi Adharsh Mahasangh claimed that lakhs of duplicate voters have been enrolled in Delhi's voter list, which, according to the petition, can now be identified and rectified using Photo Similar Entries (PSE) and Demographic Similar Entries (DSE) techniques.

These methods, as mandated by the Election Commission of India in a letter dated 11/08/2023, are part of the process for revising electoral rolls under Section 22 of the Representation of Peoples Act.

The petitioner argued that state authorities are neglecting their duty, allowing the proliferation of duplicate entries on voter lists, which undermines the integrity of the democratic process. The petition further contended that this failure is violating the fundamental rights of citizens and the principle of "one citizen, one vote," as individuals are allegedly registered as voters in multiple lists.

With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools now adopted by the Election Commission, the petition asserted that it is now possible to swiftly detect and remove these duplicate entries from electoral rolls. (ANI)