'Omission of names cannot be challenged'

AHMEDABAD: Legal eagles here say that omission of voters'' names from electoral rolls cannot be legally challenged. They hold political parties responsible for "keeping quiet", despite being given two opportunities to point discrepancies in the lists and take a legal recourse if needed.
They said that under the Representation of People''s Act of 1950, two copies of the draft electoral rolls have to be supplied to all political parties which can, if required, draw EC''s attention towards errors and omissions.The lists are also displayed at "conspicuous places" for verification by members of public.
After making amendments, if any, two copies of the amended list are again sent to political parties, which, if need be, could challenge it before the EC or as a last resort move the High Court. But once the list has been finalised through this process, it cannot be challenged.
"The political parties and to some extent individuals also have an obligation to inspect and analyse these lists. However, the ECI is under no such obligation to verify the omission of the names, once the rolls are finalised," says senior advocate and former additional advocate general of Gujarat PM Raval.
"Once the list has been finalised and used in an election, it cannot then be set aside by any court on grounds of omission of names," he said.
Leading advocate Krishnakant Vakharia who has appeared in many election-related petitions explained: "The final voters'' list is usually brought out in January. However, this year, the ECI revised the list once again in October. District collectors appointed enumerators, who revised the rolls which were then put up for verification. Ample time was given for additions, deletions and other changes. But once the final list has been used in the election, nothing can now be done about the missing names."
Neither can the losing candidate move court about the impact of such omissions on the results, on the grounds that a large number of voters were not allowed to cast their votes, he added.
Senior advocate and human rights'' activist Girish Patel observed, "This is not really a new problem as it has been recurring in almost all the elections. The enumerators come only during the day and not at a time when residents are home. Besides, the voters are themselves not too keen about getting corrections done."
He dismisses allegations levelled against the ECI of being biased. "It is a baseless allegation. The Election Commissioner of India cannot pre-judge who is going to vote for which party," he said. He also said that it was too much to expect from every voter to verify his or her name in the voters'' list before each election.
According to Patel, an election can be set aside or cancelled only on grounds of malpractice or misconduct, "but definitely not on such a ground".
He further said elections cannot be challenged on grounds that names were missing from the electoral rolls and that missing names would not in anyway affect the validity of the polls.