DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand High court has temporarily stayed a controversial circular issued by the State Election Commission (SEC) regarding individuals whose names appear on both urban municipal and rural gram panchayat voter lists. While affirming that a person can only vote or contest elections from a single location, a division bench also underscored the constitutional right of every citizen to exercise their franchise.The matter was heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice G Narendar and Justice Alok Mehra. The court’s decision came amidst a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the ambiguity surrounding dual voter entries during the forthcoming Panchayat elections.The SEC had initially circulated a directive to all District Magistrates, seeking clarification on whether individuals listed in both urban and rural voter rolls should be permitted to vote or contest. However, the commission reportedly received no clear or positive response from the administration on this crucial query.During Friday’s hearing, the High Court put a stay on the SEC’s circular, explicitly stating that it was not in favour of obstructing the ongoing election process. The Election Commission, in its submission, explained that the circular was merely an attempt to seek opinions from District Magistrates on the applicability of rules for those with dual entries.The SEC further clarified that Sub-section 13 of Section 9 of the Panchayati Raj Act mandates that a voter or candidate’s name should appear in only one voter list.
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