New Delhi [India], June 26 (ANI): Sources within the Election Commission of India (ECI) have clarified that the Indian National Congress' (INC) ongoing demand for machine-readable, digital copies of electoral rolls is 'not legally tenable' and has already been conclusively settled by the Supreme Court.

Officials pointed out that this issue was earlier raised by former Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee President Kamal Nath in 2018 through written petition (C) No. 935 of 2018. The Supreme Court had definitively ruled in favour of the Election Commission's position in that case.

While acknowledging that the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has been demanding digital electoral rolls for the past seven months, ECI sources said that this is part of a Congress strategy spanning over eight years. They added that this fact 'appears to have been selectively obscured in the present representation.'

The sources said that although Rahul Gandhi's demand is consistent with the Congress party's historical position, it cannot be accommodated within the current legal framework. The matter has already been legally settled through a Supreme Court judgment in the case of Kamal Nath vs. Election Commission of India.

Rahul Gandhi 'may not have been appropriately apprised of the finality with which the matter stands concluded in judicial record,' they said.

In its 2019 judgment, the Supreme Court specifically addressed whether voter lists should be supplied to political parties in searchable text mode rather than PDF format.

'The draft electoral roll in that mode i.e. text mode, has been supplied to the petitioner,' the Supreme Court noted, adding that the Election Manual's Clause 11.2.2.2 uses the expression 'text mode' but 'nowhere says that the draft electoral roll has to be put up on the Chief Electoral Officer's website in a 'searchable PDF'.'

The apex court upheld the ECI's decision to provide electoral rolls only in 'Image PDF' format in the public domain. The judgment stated that the current format 'fulfils the requirement contained in the Election Manual.'

The court also noted that if political parties require searchable formats, 'he can always convert it into searchable mode, which of course, would require him to put his own efforts.'

ECI sources further emphasised that the Commission's instructions dated January 4, 2018, directing field functionaries to provide only 'Image PDF' versions of electoral rolls, remain valid and have been judicially endorsed.

The clarification comes amid renewed political debate over electoral transparency and access to voter data, with the Congress party continuing to press for enhanced digital access despite the settled legal position.' (ANI)