Delhi High Court - Orders
P. Padmanabha Rao vs Union Of India And Ors on 21 September, 2022
$~49
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 13570/2022 & CM APPL. 41345/2022, CM APPL.
41346/2022
P. PADMANABHA RAO ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Nitesh Singh and Mr. Mangesh
Naik, Advs.
versus
UNION OF INDIA AND ORS ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Balendu Shekhar, CGSC,
Mr. Krishna Chaitanya, Mr. Sriansh
Prakash, Mr. Raj Kumar Maurya and
Mr. Yash Tandon, Advs. for R-1 & 2.
Mr. N. L. Bareja, Adv. for R-3 to 5.
Mr. Inder Singh, Adv. for R-6 to 12.
Mr. I. P. S. Oberoi and Mr. Mukesh
Kumar, Advs. for R-6, 9 and 11.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT MAHAJAN
ORDER
% 21.09.2022
1. The present petition is filed seeking the following reliefs:
a) Declare the entire election process held for electing new members of the Governing Council of the Respondent No. 3 (IETE) for the term 2022-25 as unlawful, improper, inappropriate, undemocratic and conducted in complete contravention of the established democratic process of the adult franchisee in India thereby ultra vires in nature and substance, and/or;
b) Issue a writ in nature of mandamus or any other writ or order of the like nature directing the Respondent No. 3 & 4 to conduct free and fair fresh elections for electing new members of the Governing Council for the term 2022-25 after appointing a new Returning Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:HARMINDER KAUR W.P.(C) 13570/2022 Page 1 of 6 Signing Date:23.09.2022 15:50:55 Officer, and/or;
c) Direct the Respondent No. 14 to share the comprehensive data/details such as data dump, system access details etc. with IP addresses of every voters and their respective locations, who participated in the election for electing the new members of the Governing Council for the term 2022-25, and/or;
d) Pass any other order in favour of the petitioner to secure the ends of justice.
2. It is contended that the petitioner is a Life Fellow Member of The Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (hereinafter referred to as 'IETE') and was also contesting in the impugned election held for the term 2022-25.
3. The present petition is filed contending that a complaint was made by one Mr. B Brahma Reddy, corporate member and a voter, addressed to the Returning Officer (Respondent No. 5) as well as to the President, IETE (Respondent No. 4) alleging that he could not cast his vote since the same had already been cast by someone else.
4. In terms of the Byelaws and the process of election, the e-voting was done between the period 01.06.2022 to 30.06.2022.
5. On 06.07.2022, the Respondent No. 5 compiled the results and a list of winners was also declared. On a complaint received from Mr. B Brahma Reddy, an Internal Investigation Committee was formed in order to investigate the malpractices alleged. The results of the election of members of the Governing Council were declared with a rider that the same was subject to the outcome of the investigations.
6. Internal Investigation Committee, thereafter, gave a report and gave Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:HARMINDER KAUR W.P.(C) 13570/2022 Page 2 of 6 Signing Date:23.09.2022 15:50:55 the following recommendations:
"(a) In view of the mass voting from a common IP address in different place across India based on the data provided by NSDL, it is found that election is poisoned and hence recommended for consideration for countermanding.
(b) It is suggested that for future reference and as evidence in court of the law in cases of any eventuality, a complete data dump by forensic expert should be obtained /asked to NSDL to preserve it.
(c) It is recommended that a detailed investigation be carried out under the aegis of Governing Council preferably through the involvement of law enforcement agency to evince conclusive evidence.
(d) As a result of the detailed investigations, if some corporate members are found to be involved in mal practices, this case is a fit case for referring to ethics committee for necessary action.
(e) The election process may be revamped to avoid such malpractices in future. The Governing Council may constitute a separate election reforms committee.
(f) The Contract with NSDL may be properly evaluated and the validation of the platform may be carried out prior to further enlargement. Alternate e-voting platforms may be also explored.
(g) Data integrity must be ensured by use of appropriate technology and suitable access rights at different levels be defined with accountability. Also accuracy of member's data for mobile number and email must be ensured for which audit of database may be carried out on priority basis.
(h) The voter list must be properly scrutinized before uploading on e-voting platform. There were a large number of voters who did not have registered email lD as well as phone number for OTP. They could never get OTP to login and vote. This provides unnecessary scope of malpractices.
(i) All personal data of members may be removed from the website or put under access control by enhancing website features and revamping it with requisite security features. It is not only a serious privacy issue but a national security threat Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:HARMINDER KAUR W.P.(C) 13570/2022 Page 3 of 6 Signing Date:23.09.2022 15:50:55 as many members are holding important posts in the government and other agencies.
(j) It is recommended that Byelaws related to election shall be adhered to and breach of Byelaws may be viewed seriously.
(k) Feedback from (Google form) may be sent to all members for assessment of the user experience and to verify the database. Also on sample it may be sent to 5% of the total corporate members by post."
(Emphasis supplied)
7. It is alleged that despite such scathing remarks and observations by the Internal Investigation Committee, the Special Governing Council in its meeting convened on 30.07.2022, for discussing the report of Internal Investigation Committee only said that e-voting malpractices need further in-depth investigation and did not countermand the election.
8. It is further pointed out that a complaint in this regard was also given to the Lodhi Road Police Station in which an FIR has already been registered.
9. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner vehemently argued that the respondent, despite such observations and findings by the Internal Investigation Committee is proceeding further with the results of the election and are in the process of holding the Governing Council meeting on 24.09.2022 for the purpose of inducting the newly inducted members in the Governing Council.
10. It is stated that if these newly appointed members who are elected by way of bogus election process are inducted and allowed to function as the members of the Governing Council that will cause irreparable harm and prejudice.
11. Learned counsel for the respondent who appears on advance notice Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:HARMINDER KAUR W.P.(C) 13570/2022 Page 4 of 6 Signing Date:23.09.2022 15:50:55 states that the Internal Investigation Committee only pointed out towards 105 votes being cast from one IP address and even if those votes are not considered, the petitioner would still not have been elected. He further states that action would be taken once an in-depth investigation takes place.
12. On a pointed query from the Court as to how much time will it take for such an investigation to complete, learned counsel could not give any answer. It is obvious that such an inquiry by its very nature can take years and if the members elected through the process which, prima facie, was not democratic and was full of malpractices, are allowed to function that would lead to grave injustice.
13. The Internal Investigation Committee had given a detailed finding based on cogent evidence and interviews being conducted that the votes have been wrongly cast and there is evidence to suggest that the elections were poisoned.
14. Therefore, prima facie, there is no reason for respondent to not accept the recommendations which is based on the evidence and specially when such committee was appointed only for such purpose, that is, to investigate and find out truth about the malpractices.
15. This Court, therefore, feels that the members who are elected through the process which, prima facie, was full of malpractices should not be allowed to be inducted as member of the Governing Council till the disposal of the present writ petition.
16. Let the reply be filed within a period of three weeks.
17. Rejoinder, if any, be filed within two weeks thereafter.
18. List for arguments on 22.11.2022.
19. Till the next date of hearing, the respondents are directed to maintain Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:HARMINDER KAUR W.P.(C) 13570/2022 Page 5 of 6 Signing Date:23.09.2022 15:50:55 status quo with respect to election process held for electing new members of the Governing Council of the Respondent No. 3 (IETE) for the term 2022- 25. AMIT MAHAJAN, J SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 / 'SS' Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:HARMINDER KAUR W.P.(C) 13570/2022 Page 6 of 6 Signing Date:23.09.2022 15:50:55