THE OPPORTUNITY OF TO BE HEARD IS NECESSARY BEFORE REMOVING THE NAME OF THE PERSON FROM VOTER LIST

Rabia Basaria | Panjab University, Chandigarh | 6th January 2020

A.Subair   v.   The Chief Election Commissioner of Kerala (Kerala High Court) (WP (C) .No. 13684 of 2019)

MATTER:

Petitioner name was struck off from the voter list prepared for Lok Sabha election scheduled on 23.04.2019. He filed the writ petition before the Kerala High Court seeking the direction to the respondent for making him enable to cast his vote.

     FACTS:                                                                      

• Petitioner, a permanent resident of ward no.39 of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, was in the voter list ever since he had the voting right.
• Petitioner name was struck off from the voter list, whereas his wife’s and daughter’s name were still in the list.
• Regarding this Firstly, petitioner approached the statutory authority, then submitted an application before the respondent on 02.05.2019, but no action was initiated by them.
• At last the petitioner filed the writ petition.

APPELLANT’S CONTENTION

It is contended that petitioner name was in the voter list ever since he had the voting right. He and his family temporarily shifted the residence  from the original address to some other place due to repairing of the residential building, In fact  his entire family shifted but only petitioner name is struck off from the voter list and he even approached the appropriate authorities regarding this matter. 

RESPONDENT’S CONTENTION

 It is contended that as per the Section 22 and 23 of the Representation of the People Act ,1950, once the date of making nomination has passed, no name can be added in the list and the last date of making nomination was 04.04.2019. Since petitioner’s name was not in the electoral roll, petitioner is not entitled to vote.

It is further submitted that time and again objections were invited regarding electoral roll but no objection raised by petitioner. It is also submitted that proper enquiry made by the respondent and if any malpractice found out then appropriate action will be taken against the concerned officer.

HELD

It is held by the Court that the subject matter of the case has become infructuous as the election was over, but the issue of deletion of name from the voter list is a serious issue. The voting right of a person is a valuable right and it can not  be taken by deleting the name of the person from the voter list . Before taking any action proper and thorough enquiry should be conducted and the Court by evaluating the Section 22 of the Representation of the People Act,1950, held that it is necessary  for the electoral registration officer that before removing the name from the voter list , the person concerned provided with the opportunity of being heard. It also held that inaction by the petitioner is no justification for removing the name. Direction will be issued to the respondent for detailed enquiry in this matter.