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The Delhi High Court today issued a notice in a plea seeking direction to the Government to strike down Part VA (Section 78A and 78B) of the Representation of People Act, 1951 which provides a free supply of Electoral Rolls and certain other materials to candidates of recognized political parties. The petitioner has said that Part VA is excessive, arbitrary, unreasonable, and harmful to the Environment.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh while issuing notice to the government has listed the matter for the next hearing on September 13.

The petition filed by Akash Gahlot through Advocate  Hargyan Singh Gahlot argues that Part VA of the Representation of People Act disrupts the equal level playing field among the contesting candidates for elections to Lok Sabha and State legislation and divided the contesting candidates to two unconstitutional categories:

It is submitted that category one candidates belonging to recognized political parties are State-supported and supplied with certain election material free of cost and category two candidates not belonging to recognized political parties are not supplied with the material which is a blatant violation of the Fundamental Right to equality under Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.

The petitioner has further submitted that he had made a representation before the Ministry of Law and Justice which in a reply dated November 17, 2020, denied scrapping of Part V A on the ground that these provisions have been in the statute book for long and they are serving the purpose for which they are made.

It has been pointed out that “around 50 Crore rupees are spent to print electoral Rolls alone every time Electoral Rolls are revised or elections are conducted in the 4036 Assembly Constituencies and 543 Parliamentary constituencies.”

The petitioner has further pointed out that the State is bound under Art 48A to protect and improve the environment and safeguard the forests and wildlife. Therefore scrapping the impugned provisions of the Act will save thousands of trees which are cut to supply Electoral Rolls every year.

Case Title: Akash Gehlot vs Union of India and Anr