The Allahabad High Court has rejected a petition seeking correction in voters list for want of merit.
The Division Bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Jayant Banerji passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Fazal Khan Parshad.
The petition has been filed praying for a mandamus commanding respondent no 2 to correct the voter list of Ward No 96, Shams Nagar, by including and excluding certain names from the voter list and take appropriate decision on the representation of the petitioner dated 25.4.2022.
The petitioner claims to be the Parshad from Ward No 78, Karela Bagh, Part-2, Nagar Nigam, Prayagraj.
According to him, the electoral roll requires revision by including and excluding certain names to bring it in line with the delimitation notification dated 28.9.2022.
The case of the petitioner is that he had filed objections on 15.11.2022 and 21.11.2022 before the Additional Commissioner/ Chief Engineer, Nagar Nigam, Prayagraj and District Magistrate/ Additional District Magistrate (Finance & Revenue), Prayagraj in that respect but same have not been decided so far.
Vibhu Rai, counsel appearing on behalf of respondents points out that the State Election Commission, U.P had issued a notification under Section 35 of the U.P Municipal Corporation Act, 1959 read with Section 12(B) of the U.P Municipalities Act, 1916, according to which, the draft voter list would be open for inspection and filing of objections between 1st and 7th November 2022.
He submitted that the objections filed by the petitioner beyond the stipulated date have rightly not been considered.
He further submitted that the objections were also not filed in the form prescribed under the U.P Municipal Corporation (Preparation and Revision of Electoral Roll) Rules, 1994, and, therefore, as per Rule 10, it was rightly ignored from consideration.
The Court noted that,
The revision of electoral roll is governed by the U.P Municipal Corporation (Preparation and Revision of Electoral Roll) Rules, 1994.
Under Rule 7 as soon as, draft roll for a ward is ready, it shall be published and be open for inspection. The claims for inclusion of names in the roll of a ward and objections to entries in the roll of the ward are provided for by Rule 8 and 9 respectively.
Rule 10 provides for the manner in which the claims and objections are to be filed. Rule 8(b) deals with wrongful inclusion of names in other wards. An application on that behalf is to be filed in Form 2-A, as per mandate of Rule 10(1).
Rule 10 stipulates that any application under Rule 8 and 9 which is not presented within the period in form or manner herein prescribed shall be rejected by the Electoral Registration Officer.
“In this case, the objections have not been filed within the prescribed time nor in the prescribed forms. Therefore, the Court refrains from issuing any mandamus”, the Court said while dismissing the petition.