Lost mandates: HC tells Maharashtra to upgrade voters’ lists
13 May 2014
Admitting as many as five public interest litigations (PILs) challenging the deletion of half a million names in voters' lists in Mumbai and Pune, the Bombay High Court on Monday asked the Maharashtra government to revise the electoral rolls, but stopped short of staying the 2014 Lok Sabha poll results on this account.
The issue made headlines during the long-drawn election process, as several highly respected figures in commerce and social services found their names missing from the electoral rolls when they went to cast their vote. Among these was HDFC chairman and business doyen Deepak Parekh.
The high court has asked the state to place advertisements in at least three prominent newspapers saying that electoral rolls are being revised, and inviting suggestions and objections. But at the same time, the bench made it clear that such revisions shall have no bearing on the outcome of the elections.
The bench of Justices Abhay Oka and M S Sonak posted the matter for final hearing on the point of maintainability of the petition; and asked the parties to file replies within eight weeks if they wanted to do so.
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