MP High Court seeks replies on Congman plea seeking stay on voter list revision plan

Indore, Nov 17 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday sought brief responses from the state government, the State Election Commission, and other respondents on a Congress leader's petition seeking a stay on the voter list revision programme for the upcoming urban body polls.

The petitioner has alleged discrepancies in the voter list revision programme, his lawyer said.

Jayesh Gurnani, lawyer representing Dilip Kaushal, in-charge of the Congress's election affairs department in the city and former councillor, told reporters his client has filed the plea in the HC's Indore bench alleging discrepancies in the voter list revision programme for the upcoming urban body elections in MP.

"While hearing the petition, the High Court sought brief responses from the state government, the State Election Commission, the District Election Officer of Indore, and the voter registration officers of all areas of the city," he informed.

The court fixed November 26 for the next hearing on the petition.

Gurnani argued the Congress leader's petition has termed the by-laws of the Madhya Pradesh Municipal Election Rules, 1994 as "flawed".

The petition cited allegations of not making public applications for addition and deletion of voters during the revision programme, appointment of ineligible employees as booth-level officers (BLOs), and registration of a large number of voters at the alleged building number '0' in an Indore Municipal Corporation area.

Gurnani said, "The petition urges the HC to stay the voter list revision programme in the state and direct the respondents not to publish the final voter list until the plea is disposed of." PTI HWP MAS RSY