NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought an explanation from the Election Commission on its decision to increase the number of voters per polling station from 1200 to 1500.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar asked the EC led by senior advocate Maninder Singh as to how the situation would be handled if more than 1500 voters arrived in a polling station.
SC Questions EC on Increasing Polling Station Voter Limit to 1500: Impact on Voter Turnout Under Scrutiny
Singh submitted that all the political parties are consulted before taking such the decision and polling stations have been accommodating the increased number of voters since 2019.
The bench also sought to know if one polling station might have several polling booths, and if the policy would apply to a single booth- polling station also.
Supreme Court Seeks EC’s Stand on Polling Station Changes Amid Voter Queue Concerns
The court asked the EC to file a short affidavit and scheduled the matter for hearing on January 17.
The PIL filed by Indu Prakash Singh challenged two communications issued by the Election Commission in August 2024 increasing the number of voters per polling stations in each constituency across India.
He claimed the decision was arbitrary and not based on any data.
Earlier on October 27, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the petitioner, contended that increasing the number of voters from 1,200 to 1,500 would lead to the exclusion of underprivileged groups from the electoral process as it will take a longer time for an individual to cast vote.
He had claimed that longer queues at the polling station and longer waiting periods would dissuade voters from going to cast their votes.
