
NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Delhi elections, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to consider utilising advanced technological tools to eliminate duplicate entries from the voters' list. This directive came as the court disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) highlighting the issue of multiple voter registrations in the national capital.
A division bench consisting of Acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela addressed the PIL filed by the Rashtravadi Adharsh Mahasangh. The petition accused the Delhi Election Commission of failing to update the voter list, despite clear guidelines from the ECI.
The PIL pointed out that a significant number of duplicate entries could compromise the integrity of the electoral process.
The plea specifically called for the implementation of Photo Similar Entries (PSE) and Demographic Similar Entries (DSE) techniques. These methods, outlined in an ECI directive dated 11 August 2023, are designed to detect and rectify duplicate voter registrations.
The petitioner stressed that such tools, leveraging Artificial Intelligence, could swiftly identify and correct inaccuracies in the voter rolls.
During the hearing, Advocate Siddhant Kumar, representing the ECI, assured the court that steps were already being taken to revise the electoral rolls and eliminate duplicate entries using available technological solutions.
He argued that the concerns raised by the petitioner were being addressed as part of the ongoing process.
The court, while acknowledging the ECI’s efforts, directed the commission to thoroughly consider the observations made in the PIL.
The bench said, “If the Commission finds that technological tools can assist in eliminating duplicate names, it should adopt them. The petition is disposed of with this observation.”
The PIL also criticised state governments for allegedly ignoring the issue of duplicate voter entries, which could potentially undermine the democratic process. It accused certain political interests of deliberately allowing these discrepancies to persist, thereby affecting the fundamental rights of citizens.