The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has dismissed a public interest litigation filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, in which the petitioner sought a writ of mandamus directing the Election Commission of India to clarify its position on alleged large-scale manipulation of voter lists during the 2024 Lok Sabha General Elections.
The petitioner, appearing in person, had requested that the Election Commission produce and make publicly available relevant electoral roll data in a machine-readable format, along with a detailed report on actions taken to address the allegations. The petition relied on a presentation by the Leader of the Opposition and statements made by a Union Minister to substantiate concerns regarding voter list irregularities.
It was argued on behalf of the petitioner that such disclosure was necessary to ensure transparency and uphold constitutional mandates under Articles 324, 14 and 19(1)(a). The Election Commission and the Union of India opposed the petition, submitting that the allegations were vague and unsupported by independent verification or material particulars.
The Court observed that the petition was completely misconceived, noting that it merely reproduced allegations and counter-allegations from various sources without any independent research. The Bench emphasised that no direction could be issued to the Election Commission to clarify its position and clarified that it had not expressed any opinion on the merits of the allegations. The Court also stressed that its order should not interfere with the Election Commission's constitutional authority to take independent decisions.
Accordingly, the writ petition was dismissed and the petitioner was directed to pay costs of Rs. 1,00,000 to the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority. The Court also closed the interim application connected to the petition, leaving open the possibility for the substantive allegations to be raised through an appropriately constituted petition.
Case Title: V.Venkata Sivakumar vs The Election Commission of India and others
Case No.: WP No.34108 of 2025 and WMP No.38263 of 2025
Coram: Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G.Arul Murugan
Counsel for the Petitioner: Adv. V.Venkata Sivakumar
Counsel for the Respondents: Standing Counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan, Senior Panel Counsel K.Seetha Ram
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