SC rejects Congress plea on electoral rolls in text mode

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Congress leader Kamal Nath's plea seeking electoral rolls in text mode for the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections in November to avoid any foul play.

A bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan rejected the plea that contended that there were over 50 lakh duplicate voters in the voters list.

The Election Commission (EC) had earlier deleted 24 lakh voters from the state's electoral rolls but refused to give text mode voters list contending privacy issue of personal data of the voters.

But the Congress said that the poll panel had already given electoral rolls in text mode in Rajasthan and prior to that in Karnataka and in 2013 in Madhya Pradesh also, then why not again.

The EC responded that it has already taken action against Chief Electoral Officer in Rajasthan for providing the voters list in text mode.

It also said that the panel has amended its manual to stop giving electoral rolls in text mode to prevent the scanning of the voters list.