The Supreme Court on April 15 refused to intervene in a petition filed by the Manipur Tribal Forum and two individuals seeking a direction to the Election Commission to make arrangements for persons who had fled the conflict and are currently residing in other States to vote in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said with merely three days left for polling in Manipur on April 19, it was too late for the court to intervene.
“Interference at this belated stage would cause substantial impediments in the conduct of elections in Manipur,” Chief Justice Chandrachud reasoned.
The Election Commission countered the petition, saying they had approached the court too late.
“But some delay cannot take away my constitutional right to vote. I want to vote. Delay cannot be a reason for denial,” advocate Hetvi Patel, appearing for the petitioners, said.
The petition said there were approximately 18,000 internally displaced persons from Manipur, who had fled the violence which began on May 3, 2023, living in other States.
It was impossible for them to enter Manipur, leave along go to the constituency where they were registered as voters. The situation in their home State was still volatile. Two people were killed in the hills only a day back, she submitted.
Special polling booths could be set up for them in the States where they were currently residing. The petitioners said some of these people were found to be living in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Mizoram, Shillong, Kohima, and Bengaluru.
Ms. Patel drew parallel with how Kashmiri people living in other States had an option to either physically vote or cast their vote postally.
She said the Election Commission had notified a scheme on February 29 for people living in relief camps within Manipur to vote. Parity should be shown to displaced persons living outside Manipur. She said the EC could make the necessary arrangements for them to vote at least in the second phase of polling for Manipur on April 26.
The Election Commission countered that the petition was filed, on April 8, over a month after the February 29 scheme was out.
The electoral body discounted the analogy with the Kashmiri people. Advocate Ankit Agarwal, for the EC, said provisions for displaced persons from Kashmir was statutorily backed in the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Representation of People Act, 1957. The facility had merely been extended when the Act was repealed in 2019 with the reorganisation of the State.
Mr. Agarwal said Article 329(b) of the Constitution barred any petition questioning the conduct of polls by the EC except through an election petition. The current plea was under Article 32 of the Constitution. He said the power of superintendence, direction and control of elections was vested with the Election Commission under Article 324.
“We are not stopping them from voting. We do not know whether these people had left Manipur voluntarily to study or whether they were displaced due to the conflict. This cannot be analysed in the next three days before polling on April 19,” he said.
Chief Justice Chandrachud said the petitioners have come at “the last minute on the verge of elections”. The verification of displaced persons, mailing them postal ballots would take time. The court said the postal ballots for voters outside Kashmir had started since the Legislative Assembly election in 1996.
“The cause of action is entirely impracticable. The broader issues of policy of elections was something which the EC was constitutionally vested with,” the court said, declining relief in the petition.
