New Delhi [India], January 15: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday instructed the Election Commission to take necessary steps to resolve the issue of duplicate voter entries in Delhi’s electoral rolls. This came after a petition filed by Rashtravadi Adharsh Mahasangh raised concerns that lakhs of duplicate voter registrations were compromising the integrity of the democratic process.
The bench, led by Acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru, acknowledged that similar issues are often raised before elections and urged the Commission to explore the use of technological tools to prevent duplication in future electoral rolls.
During the proceedings, the petitioner’s counsel pointed out that the issue of duplicate voters could not be addressed in time for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. The court, however, emphasized that the revision process for electoral rolls could not be carried out at this stage due to the timing of the elections.
Representing the Election Commission, Advocate Sidhant Kumar argued that the petition failed to provide specific examples of the alleged duplications, asserting that the Commission had already initiated the necessary steps to revise the electoral rolls. He also stated that the issue had been addressed in previous Supreme Court rulings.
The court noted the petitioner’s claim of numerous duplicate entries in the electoral roll and the lack of action to remove them. The petitioner also proposed using Photo Similar Entries (PSE) and Demographic Similar Entries (DSE) techniques to identify and eliminate duplicates, as recommended by the Election Commission. In response, the Election Commission assured the court that these technological tools were already being used to rectify the issue.
Given the circumstances, the court disposed of the petition, directing the respondents to address the petitioner’s concerns at the appropriate time.
The petition, filed by Rashtravadi Adharsh Mahasangh, argued that the presence of duplicate voter entries violated the principle of “one citizen, one vote” and undermined the integrity of the electoral process. It also contended that state authorities had neglected their duty to remove these duplicates, which could now be easily detected and eliminated through AI-powered tools. The Election Commission had previously adopted these advanced techniques as part of the process for revising electoral rolls under Section 22 of the Representation of Peoples Act.