“Important Issue” :Supreme Court accepts a petition challenging the removal of 46 lakh names from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana’s voting records
The petitioner further alleged that the ECI connected the Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) to Aadhaar, seeded EPIC information with the State Resident Data Hub, and let State governments to view and copy EPIC information.
In a plea alleging that it removed 46 lakh entries from the electoral rolls in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in order to “purify” the rolls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) was asked to respond by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The issue was deemed relevant by a bench consisting of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha.
“We must make a decision on this crucial matter. Give notice of the delay’s forgiveness (118 days). After six weeks, list,” the court instructed.
The petitioner, Srinivas Kodali, further alleged that the ECI linked the Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) with Aadhaar, seeded the State Resident Data Hub with EPIC data, and permitted State governments to access and copy EPIC data, in addition to deletion.
The petitioner Initially approached the Telangana High Court to express its worries that millions of unaware voters would not be able to cast a ballot at the then-imminent State elections in December 2018.
The petition was dismissed three years later since it “was filed in the year 2018 and significant water had flowed down the Ganges,” according to the decision.
The petitioner, an IIT Madras alumnus who lives in Hyderabad and works as a technology researcher, contends that this order is incorrect.
According to him, the ECI violated both its legal and constitutional obligations to create electoral rolls independently of the government and any electronic databases they control.
The employment of unidentified and opaque software to create electoral records, according to the petition, infringes the right to vote.
According to the complaint submitted through attorney N Sai Vinod, voter profiling using Aadhar or other government databases violates voters’ privacy because it effectively builds a monitoring infrastructure.
The petitioner emphasised that sensitive voter data, including caste, tribe, ethnicity, language, records of entitlement, income, and medical history, is now linked to voter data in the Aadhaar database and SRDH.
The state governments were given access to EPIC data by the ECI without having a court order or voter approval.
Additionally, it was claimed that these activities violated the ECI’s constitutional obligation to protect voters’ right to vote in secret.
For the petitioner, attorney Gautam Bhatia made an appearance.
Written By: Lakshman Singh, B.B.A LL.B (Hons.), Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University, Lucknow
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