Jaipur, Nov 12 — The Rajasthan High Court remained open on the Diwali holiday to hear a case involving four voters from Mendi Gram Panchayat in Bundi district.
A division bench comprising Justice Indrajit Singh and Justice Sandeep Taneja dismissed an appeal filed by the State Election Commission, upholding the relief granted to the four voters.
The court ruled that once the election process has commenced, no changes can be made to the electoral roll.
The State Election Commission and other authorities had challenged a single-bench order dated November 4, which had quashed the Bundi District Election Officer’s decision to delete the names of the four voters from the Mendi Gram Panchayat electoral roll.
Indrajit Singh, Sunita Devi, Sudesh Kumar and Sunita Kumari, residents of Ward No. 4 of Mendi Gram Panchayat in Bundi district, had earlier been registered as voters in Sukhpura Gram Panchayat. Their names were subsequently included in the Mendi Gram Panchayat electoral roll on February 7.
Bahadur Singh later raised an objection to their inclusion. However, the Returning Officer rejected the objection on October 2.
The following day, October 3, the State Election Commission announced the schedule for the Panchayat elections. On October 13, Bahadur Singh filed an appeal before the Bundi District Election Officer.
The officer issued notices to the four voters on October 17 and ordered the deletion of their names from the electoral roll the very next day, October 18. The four voters challenged the District Election Officer’s decision before the High Court.
After hearing the matter, a single bench of Justice Anand Sharma quashed the deletion order on November 4. Subsequently, the State Election Commission, the Bundi District Election Officer and the Hindoli Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) challenged the single-bench decision before a division bench.
During the hearing, counsel for the State Election Commission argued that the election schedule had been announced on October 3 and that no formal election notification had been issued.
Therefore, the District Election Officer was still entitled to exercise his statutory powers.
Rejecting the argument, the division bench observed that once the election process has commenced, no amendments can be made to the electoral roll.
The court declined to interfere with the single-bench order, thereby dismissing the appeal and granting relief to the four voters.