TS High Court sees no abnormality in voters list

Hyderabad: On Friday, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhutan and Justice CV Bhaskar Reddy did not find any "abnormality" in the voters list furnished to the High Court by the Chief Election Officer of the State.

Avinash Desai, standing counsel for the Election Commission of India furnished before the High Court a signed statement of the Chief Electoral Officer, Telangana regarding the voters list of Munugode Assembly by-election scheduled to be held on November 3.

The High Court Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice CV Bhaskar Reddy heard the writ petition on Friday, filed by Telangana BJP, represented by its secretary Gujjula Premender Reddy who alleged that the Election Commission and State government authorities shown indifference in not verifying the false claims, veracity and authenticity of all the Form-6 applications filed for registration as voters in the Munugode Assembly constituency.

The petitioner further alleged that the names of fresh applicants in the electoral list for the said byelection in Munugode Assembly constituency are illegal and in violation of provisions of the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951. He requested the court to direct the Election Commission and State authorities to freeze the voters list only up to July 31, 2022 and no further applications to be processed or included for the upcoming election to be held on November 3.

Avinash Desai also informed the court that as per Sec.23, Sub Sec 3 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951, the electoral list for Munugode will be freezed on 14-10-2022.

Avinash Desai further informed that as per the Statement of CEO, TS, a total 25,013 applications in Form 6, out of which 7,247 were rejected and 12,249 were accepted. As on October 11, a total of 5,517 applications in Form 6 are pending.

Moreover, a total of 2,142 applications were received under Form 8, out of which 1,813 were rejected and 239 accepted and 182 applications under Form 8 are pending, Avinash Desai informed the court.

Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan Bench after going through the statement furnished by the CEO, Telangana said "the total votes in Munugodu as on October 11,2018 were 2,14,847, and as on October 11, 2022 the voters in Munugode has increased to 2,38,759.

The Chief Justice Bench opined that there is no abnormality in the increase of voters in the Munugode Assembly constituency.

The Chief Justice Bench directed the Election Commission of India to furnish the latest voters list as on October 14 in the next hearing and adjourned the matter till October 21.