HC not inclined to intervene in Palakurthi Congress candidate voter card issue

A two judge bench of the Telangana High Court on Wednesday refused to stall the electoral process to the Achampet Assembly Constituency. The bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and N V Shravan Kumar dismissed a writ petition filed by Kampally Deva assailing a report issued by the District Election Officer refusing to delete the name of Mamidala Yashashwini, the Congress candidate from the constituency.

According to the petitioner, a native of Dindi, Chintapally Village the respondent resided in India for only 5.5 months for the last 5 years. Petitioner would also allege that the residents as reflected in her passport would show that she is the resident of Kothapet, Ranga Reddy District. The petitioner would contend that the statutory authority failed to exclude her name suo moto based on the records submitted by her.

He would also allege that not only did the Electoral Officer fail by not excluding her name but he also failed to discharge his statutory duty of referring the representation to Election Commission. Senior Counsel L Ravichander, would point out that the decision making process was vitiated when the Election Officer ruled that application for deletion can be dealt with only after completion of the election.

He said that the constituency would be burdened with a visitor candidate and that the election is likely to be vitiated for improper acceptance of the nomination. Senior Counsel Avinash Desai appearing for the Chief Election Commissioner would refer to the latest instructions issued by the Chief Election Commission under which there is an embargo upon deletion after the date of election notification.

The bench speaking through the Chief Justice would point out that the court is inhibited in interfering with the electoral process in cases where the very election is being scuttled. The bench declared that the issues raised in the writ petition can always be raised in an election petition.