VIJAYAWADA:
Andhra Pradesh high court
will pronounce its order on the issue of deciding the
validity of postal ballots
on Saturday at 6 pm. The bench of Justices Mandava Kiranmayee and Nyapati Vijay heard the house motion petition filed by
YSRCP
seeking directions to set aside the circular issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) over validity of postal ballots, in which the ECI clarified that postal ballots with signature of attesting officer with name and designation can be considered valid even if they are not sealed.
Arguing on behalf of YSRCP,
senior counsels
Abhishek Manu Singhvi and P Veera Reddy said the
ECI circular
has done away with the
attestation process
as contemplated in rules notified by the statute. They said any modification of rules can be made by the Parliament alone and ECI cannot do that by way of a circular. The senior counsels further argued that doing away with attestation would weaken the electoral process as it would be difficult identify false votes without attestation.
Singhvi said the circular directly infringes upon
free and fair election
. As over 5 lakh votes have been cast through postal ballot, it can potentially change the result of the election, he argued. Veera Reddy said ECI issued the clarification memo without specifying any reasons only after filing of the petition. Alleging that ECI is trying to validate the wrong committed by it at the
facilitation centres
, he said even if the votes are cast at the facilitation centres, no distinction has been made in the statute as the rules pertaining to attestation of postal ballots are intact.
Arguing on behalf of ECI, senior counsel Avinash Desai said the circular issued by the ECI pertains to the votes cast at the facilitation centres only, and not all postal ballots. He said the attesting officers were appointed by the returning officers at the facilitation centres and the entire process was videographed. There cannot be any apprehension over the identity of the attesting officer at the facilitation centres, he said.
He further explained that casting of postal ballots at facilitation centres is a new form of voting which is done as in a regular polling booth.
"Voting was done in the presence of representatives of all recognised political parties. The facilitation centres were set up in accordance with the amended rules.
"The interpretation of attestation should be made in such a way to protect the right to vote of voters. When the attestation officers are appointed by the returning officers themselves, there is no need for seal or address of those officers," Avinash argued.
Senior counsels Posani Venkateswarlu and Padiri Ravichandra argued on behalf of TDP MLA Velagapudi Ramakrishna, who impleaded in the petition.
After hearing the arguments from all sides, the high court said it will pronounce orders at 6 pm on Saturday.
English (US) ·