Plea alleges deletion of 46L entries from Andhra, T'gana electoral roll

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought responses from the Election Commission and others on a plea which alleged that the poll panel had suo motu deleted 46 lakh entries from electoral rolls in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in 2015.

The plea, challenging the April order passed by the Telangana High Court, which had said it does not find any reason to grant the reliefs sought in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed before it on the issue, came up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha.

"Issue notice," the bench said while agreeing to hear the matter.

Besides the poll panel, the bench has sought responses from the Centre, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and the respective state election commission of both the states.

It posted the matter for hearing after six weeks.

The plea, filed in the apex court by Hyderabad resident Srinivas Kodali, claimed that in an effort to 'purify' electoral rolls, the EC in 2015 had suo motu deleted 46 lakh entries from the electoral rolls in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and linked the electors photo identity card (EPIC) with Aadhaar.

It said the poll panel had also seeded EPIC data with the state resident data hub and allowed the state governments to access and copy EPIC data.

The plea said the petitioner had filed a PIL before the high court apprehending that millions of unsuspecting voters would be unable to vote during the then upcoming state elections in December 2018.

"Three years later, the high court dismissed the PIL ostensibly because it 'was filed in the year 2018 and much water has flown down the Ganges'," it claimed.

The plea alleged that the EC's action to 'purify' electoral rolls, using an automated process; from data received from Aadhaar and state governments; and without proper notice or consent from the voters is a "blatant infringement on the right to vote".