Poll rules tweaked to restrict default public access to docs

Based on the recommendation of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Union law ministry on Friday amended Rule 93(2)(a) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, to restrict the type of “papers” or documents open to public inspection. The earlier rule stated that “all other papers relating to the election shall be open to public inspection”. This has now been restricted to “papers as specified in these rules”.

According to experts and ECI officials, this means that all election papers that are not mentioned in the CoE Rules or specifically listed by ECI cannot be made available to the public without a court order, allowing district election officers and other public authorities to deny access under different laws, including the Right to Information Act.

Two senior officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said ECI made the proposal to amend the rules to the law ministry last week. The proposal came after the Punjab and Haryana high court, on December 9, directed ECI to provide advocate Mehmood Pracha with videography, CCTV footage and copies of forms 17C Part I and II related to the conduct of Haryana state elections within six weeks. ECI had opposed Pracha’s plea and said that since he did not contest the assembly elections and not is a resident of Haryana, he was seeking the documents “for malicious intent and purposes”.