The Hindu Business Line : Mumbai Court accepts petition of `disenfranchised' citizens

According to Ms Kunika Lall of the Citizen's Awareness Forum, of the more than 7,000 names that were missing from the voters' list, 3,000 are from one housing complex itself.

Mumbai , May 10

THE public interest petition initiated by high profile citizens whose names were missing from the voters list in Mumbai was heard on Monday by the vacation bench of the Bombay High Court.

The vacation judge, Mr Justice Anoop Mohta, heard and accepted the petition, but said it would be heard only when the court resumes in June. While accepting that the matter was "serious," the judge refused to issue a show-cause notice, saying he did not see the point of it and said that the matter will be heard by a Division Bench of the court in June.

The petition, which is supported by more than 7,000 people whose names were missing from the electoral rolls, was filed by the Citizen's Awareness Forum, a group started by actors Ms Kunika Lall and Mr Anjan Srivastava and a Dr and Mrs Kothari, all of whom were unable to cast their vote since their names were missing from the electoral rolls.

According to Ms Lall, of the more than 7,000 names that have been registered with the forum, 3,000 are from one housing complex itself. The petition also believes that "according to more than five lakh citizens of Mumbai, this is an unfair and unjust poll conducted in the most disorganised manner where systems have not been put into place for the benefits of citizens."

No source was cited to support the figure that five lakh voters were disenfranchised. While the petition has so far restricted itself to Mumbai voters who were unable to cast their votes, it does say that "the petitioners are concerned with the gross state of affairs of... a rough estimate of 10 lakh of voters' names missing/deleted from the voters' lists" all over the State.

The petition questioned the process of data gathering and collation by the authorities and said that the process of informing voters about their rights was inadequately done.

When Mr P.G. Lad, who appeared for the Government of Maharashtra, said, "More than Rs 300 crore was spent on such information disbursement," Mr P. Havnur, one of the advocates for the petitioners, retorted that most of the money had been spent on the `India Shining' campaign and not on informing voters of their rights.

The judge said that while he did not excuse what had occurred he could not accept the demand for a re-poll. "There are people who have suffered but that doesn't mean the whole process is repeated."

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Mumbai Court accepts petition of `disenfranchised' citizens