Madras High Court Dismisses PIL Seeking ECI's Response To Rahul Gandhi's Voter List Manipulation Claims, Imposes Cost Of ₹1 Lakh

The Madras High Court has dismissed a Petition seeking response of the Election Commission of India on opposition leader Rahul Gandhi's claim of Voter List manipulation in the 2024 General Elections to the 18th Lok Sabha.

The Court was considering a Public Interest Litigation seeking directions to the Election Commission of India to clarify its position regarding the allegations raised by the Leader of the opposition in his PowerPoint presentation and further allegedly corroborated by Union Minister Anurag Thakur during his press conference concerning large-scale voter list manipulation.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G.Arul Murugan observed, "The petition lacks concrete material and only refers to allegations, counter-allegations made on certain platform. The petition only reproduces those allegations, without there being any independent research. It seeks this court to make roving enquiry. With the present content and form, it is vague, lacks material details and particulars.....No such direction to “clarify its position” to the Commission, as has been sought in this petition, can be granted."

The Petitioner appeared in person, while the Respondents were represented by Standing Counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan and Senior Panel Counsel K. Seetha Ram.

The Court clarified that it has not expressed any opinion on the merits and stated that the order shall not come in the way of the Election Commission in taking its own decision on issues sought to be raised in the Petition.

"Writ petition is misconceived and, accordingly, dismissed with costs quantified at Rs.1,00,000/- [Rupees One Lakh only] payable to the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority within one month. Consequently, interim application stands closed", the Court observed.

Cause Title: Adv.(C.A).V.Venkata Sivakumar vs. The Election Commission of India

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