SC rejects ADR plea to get permit access to voters list in machine-readable voters list
Might compromise voters' privacy, says bench
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court has orally refused to permit making the machine-readable voters list available, clarifying that this might compromise the voters’ privacy.
The SC bench of Justices Surya Kant and Bagchi, heard on Tuesday the petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, which will be held by the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) in Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and West Bengal, among other states, according to a report by LiveLaw.
The judges said that, as the Election Commission of India (ECI) held the voters’ data in trust, it had the right to adopt methods to ensure the data remained protected. The judges, however, directed the ECI to find password-protection techniques that give easy access to an individual but prevent unauthorized access.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, who represented the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), said that the NGO had filed an interlocutory application seeking a direction to the ECI to provide the 2002 voters list in machine-readable format to help voters confirm if their parents’ names are included.
The lawyer also said that no prejudice would be caused if the ECI made the data available in searchable form.
Justice Bagchi, however, expressed privacy concerns regarding sharing of voters’ data in the format and, referring to an earlier case, said that electoral rolls need not be furnished in machine-readable format.
The judge said that, as it was a matter of privacy and data protection, making the machine-readable format could open doors to ‘data mining’ by third parties. Also, he said that the suggestion may be deliberated upon by the parties.
"Let's get the ECI's response on what kind of dangers it can pose", said Justice Kant.
"A prejudice is [per se]... data available at large for mining, irrespective of individuals, any agent... have to take into consideration the issues of individual privacy, collective protection of data of Indian citizens. This is not adversarial. It has a polycentric impact. Independent of the rights of a person who is seeking to vote, the data itself is a valuable asset. That the ECI is holding in trust. What you may suggest, and the ECI may consider, that the individual may have a password to access the data. That's how the individual can verify his data from the encrypted database of ECI. The data is valuable asset entrusted to the ECI. So ECI is entitled to have layers of privacy on the data", Justice Bagchi stated.
On Bhushan mentioning ADR's application seeking inter-alia electoral roll data in machine-readable form, the bench issued notice for the ECI to respond. The judges found "good" a suggestion made by ADR that de-duplication software available with ECI be used to tackle multiple entries of one individual in the rolls.
The Court sought the ECI's response to the application and posted the matter to November 26.
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Fascism will not be allowed to enter through the back door of vote rigging: CM Siddaramaiah
New Delhi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday asserted that fascism would not be allowed to enter India “through the back door of vote rigging” and called upon citizens to collectively defend the country’s democratic foundations.
Speaking after participating in an anti–vote rigging protest organised in New Delhi, Siddaramaiah said the gathering was not merely a political demonstration but a stand to protect Indian democracy. “We have come to the heart of our republic not as Congress workers or voters, but as protectors of Indian democracy,” he said.
Emphasising the importance of the right to vote, Siddaramaiah said it was the most sacred right guaranteed by the Constitution and the very foundation of democracy.
“Through voting, a farmer shapes the future of his children, a worker safeguards his dignity, a youth realises dreams, and a nation expresses its collective will,” he said.
He accused the BJP-led Union government of attempting to undermine this right through what he termed systematic vote rigging, including the alleged misuse of the special revision of electoral rolls. “This power is being stolen repeatedly,” he alleged.
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Warning against authoritarian tendencies, Siddaramaiah said history had shown that dictatorship does not begin with violence but with the misuse of institutions and manipulation of democratic systems.
“Across the world, authoritarian regimes pretend to protect democracy while quietly subverting it. This is what the BJP is doing today,” he charged.
He alleged that the ruling party was controlling institutions, intimidating electoral machinery, distorting voter lists, suppressing voter turnout in opposition strongholds, and misusing money and power. “This is not mere maladministration. Vote rigging is an attack on the very idea of India,” he said.
Siddaramaiah further claimed that governments formed through “stolen votes” could not be considered democratic.
“Such regimes survive through fear, fraud and distortion of the people’s mandate,” he said, adding that vote rigging posed the biggest threat to the republic since Independence.
Praising Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah said he had shown exceptional courage in exposing alleged irregularities in voter lists, booth-level manipulation and “systematic, organised vote rigging” across several states, including Karnataka, Haryana and Bihar.
Referring to Karnataka, Siddaramaiah cited Mahadevpura and Aland constituencies as examples highlighted by Gandhi. In Mahadevpura, he said, thousands of allegedly fake and fraudulent voter entries and discrepancies in electoral rolls pointed to a narrow BJP victory. In Aland, he said, attempts were made to remove the names of legitimate voters ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
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He noted that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) had recently filed a chargesheet accusing seven persons, including a former BJP MLA and his son, of attempting to delete the names of around 6,000 voters in Aland.
“This is a significant legal step in the fight against vote rigging,” he said.
Siddaramaiah concluded by stating that the fight against vote rigging was rooted in constitutional morality, Ambedkarite thought and the core principle of democracy. “Sovereignty belongs to the people, not to any party, regime or those who seek to steal elections,” he said.
