'Free and fair elections under threat due to voter profiling'

In response to an SLP filed by Srinivas Kodali, a bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha orally remarked, 'It is an important issue'

NT Correspondent

New Delhi: Srinivas Kodali, an engineer from Hyderabad, had filed a PIL in Telangana High Court alleging that the Election Commission is indulging in voter profiling through undisclosed software linking voter records to Aadhaar.

But his PIL was dismissed by the High Court after which he approached the Supreme Court. A bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha heard the plea placed before them and orally remarked that it was an important issue.

"ECI has created a surveillance...sensitive information on voters including religion, caste, tribe, ethnicity, language, records of entitlement, income, and medical history is now linked to voter information," says the petition, stating that this will lead political actors to segment people into 'interest groups' and selectively target them, thereby interfering with free and fair conduct of the election.

"In sum, the ECI abdicated its constitutional duty under Article 324 and statutory obligation under the Representation of the People Act, 1950 D to prepare electoral rolls without the aid or assistance from the gover nment or electronic databases under their control," the plea filed through Advocate N. Sai Vinod says.

All this was done in the absence of any valid law to use the algorithm as an aid or substitute for verifying electoral rolls, he adds. The plea avers that a large number of voters in Telangana and AP have been deleted.

"Names were removed from electoral rolls without any explanation… voting rights of millions were deprived without due process," the plea says and adds the "right to vote encompasses the right to not have an excessive administrative burden that deprives the right to vote. In failing to inform the affected voter, and without specifying the reasons for deletion, the ECI unlawfully placed the burden on voters to prove that they are neither duplicate nor shifted...''