HC notice to poll panel over ‘irregularities’ in Phagwara voter list

CHANDIGARH : Alleging “rampant irregularities” in the voter list issued by the state election commission, residents of Phagwara have filed two writ petitions in the Punjab and Haryana high court ahead of the upcoming municipal corporation elections.

In one of the petitions, residents alleged that in Ward 44, more than 369 voters of Ward 39 have been included. The petitioners said Ward 44, which was Ward 43 in 2014, has no change in the area/map as per the fresh delimitation, but there are changes in the fresh voter list. Similar “irregularities” have been claimed in Ward 31(now 33), whose voters allegedly have been transferred to Ward 26 ( now 28) even as there is no change in the Ward map in the delimitation.

Counsel for the petitioners contended that after the delimitation of wards, votes of some residents have been included in wards where they don’t reside. The counsel also submitted before the high court that objections had been submitted prior to the finalisation of the voter list, but they were not given due consideration by the competent authority.

Taking up the petition, division bench of justices Augustine George Masih and Ashok Kumar Verma sought reply from the state election commission and adjourned the matter to January 14.

Another petition filed concerning deletion of some voters’ names in Ward 6. The petition was listed before the division bench of justices Jitendra Chauhan and Vivek Puri and the court while issuing notice had ordered that both the petitions will be heard together by the bench mentioned earlier.