Changes to poll rules: Supreme Court seeks responses from Centre and ECI
Supreme Court on Wednesday sought responses from the Centre and Election Commission of India (ECI) on a plea moved by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, challenging recent amendments to the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
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A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, issued notice to the Central government and ECI asking them to file their responses by the week commencing on March 17.
The government has tweaked an election rule to prevent public inspection of certain electronic documents such as CCTV camera and webcasting footage as well as video recordings of candidates to prevent their misuse.
On December 21, the central government amended Rule 93 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, to restrict public access to certain electronic documents to prevent the misuse of electronic election records. This includes footage from CCTV cameras and webcasting, as well as video recordings of candidates, during the election process.
Appearing on behalf of the petitioner, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi questioned the reasoning behind the amendment. Earlier, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had also slammed the Centre for the amendments to the Conduct of Election Rules. Kharge alleged that it was a «calibrated erosion» of the Election Commission's
