NEW DELHI: A day before counting of votes, the Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea by YSR Congress party challenging the Election Commission's May 30 circular dispensing with the requirement of putting a seal of attesting officer on postal ballots in Andhra Pradesh in counting of votes in 125 Assembly and 25 Parliamentary seats.
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A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Sandeep Mehta dismissed the plea by the party saying it does not any merit to consider the matter in the facts and circumstances.
Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for the petitioner contended the circular of May 30 only in respect of Andhra Pradesh provided that even if Form 13A under the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 only contained the signature of the attesting officer, the same is to be accepted.
He said non statutory amendment has given a go bye to statutory rules and diluted it. The counsel contended there can't be just scribble of signature and there has to be stamp and seal of the officer of the attesting officer.
The plea challenged the validity of the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court of June 1, contending it is ex-facie unsustainable since the bar under Article 329(b) of the Constitution would apply only if the petitioner was seeking to impede the process of election or question the election itself.
On the contrary, the petitioner only challenged a circular issued by the EC and not any specific election. The challenge was made to ensure that a free and fair election process takes place without any semblance of malafide/ bias, the plea said.
The petition filed by advocate Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki stated the High Court's judgment was ex facie unsustainable because an erroneous counting of the votes (around 5 lakh votes) could change the result of the election.
It said upholding the coherence and consistency of the electoral procedures is crucial in a democratic country. Failure to address these concerns compromises the procedural integrity of the elections.
"The High Court erred in not appreciating the fact that erroneous counting of the votes is violative of the right to vote of a citizen under Article 326 of the Constitution of India," it said, adding the circulars were violative of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The counting of votes in the State of Andhra Pradesh is to take place on June 04.
