Metro India News | Hyderabad 

The Telangana High Court has made it clear that it cannot intervene in the petition filed by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regarding alleged vote fraud in the Jubilee Hills constituency where by-poll is scheduled to take place on November 11.

The petitions were filed by BRS contesting candidate Maganti Sunitha and party working president K.T. Rama Rao through a lunch motion, alleging large-scale manipulation of the voter rolls in Jubilee Hills segment.

Senior advocate D Seshadri Naidu, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that thousands of 'ineligible or unrelated persons' were enrolled as voters in the Jubilee Hills area and nearly 12,000 votes belong to outsiders who are not residents of the constituency. In some cases, up to 43 voters were registered under a single household. Despite submitting concrete evidence of bogus voters to the Election Commission, no action has been taken, he pointed out.

Disputing with the petitioners' counsel arguments, the counsel for EC informed the court that a similar matter regarding Bihar elections is already being heard in the Supreme Court. The EC will accept objections until the last date for filing nominations. Instructions have been issued to the local election officer concerned to examine the BRS’s representations and take action based on the findings. In fact, the actual number of newly registered voters is around 8,000, not 12,000 as alleged. Those who have turned 18 years of age are legally entitled to register as voters.

After hearing both sides, the Court observed that the EC is already conducting a revision of the electoral rolls. Therefore, there is no need for any further directions or intervention by the Court on the issue. The Telangana High Court has refused to issue any interim orders or directions in the Jubilee Hills bogus votes case, holding that the matter falls within the Election Commission’s ongoing electoral roll revision process, and disposed of the case.