CRUX: A. Anand V. Chief Electoral Officer - Madras High Court - Evident that Voters' Personal Details May have been Obtained & utilize for Campaign Purposes.
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 26th March, 2021
JUDGES: Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy
PARTIES
- A. Anand – President of the Puducherry State Committee of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (Appellant)
- Chief Election Commission (Respondent)
SUMMARY: The Madras High Court Friday stated that it was obvious that Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) may have resorted to a kind of campaigning which is not permissible under the model code of conduct.
AN OVERVIEW
- The considerations came to be made by a division bench of Chief Justice of Madras High Court Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy while hearing public interest litigation (PIL) filed by A. Anand president of the Democratic Youth Federation of India claiming that the Puducherry unit of BJP was illegally infiltrating Aadhaar data and utilizing the personal and individual data of voters for its election campaign.
- The high court stated that it was evident that the personal details of voters may have been acquired by the BJP and actuate it for campaign purposes.
- The court asked the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to instantly ascertain that how such material could have been accessed by a political party.
ISSUES
The following issue was analyzed by the court-
- Whether the personal details of voters may have been obtained by the political parties and put to use it for campaigning purposes?
IMPORTANT PROVISIONS
The Constitution of India
- Article 226: provide power to high court to issue direction, orders or writs.
Information Technology Act, 2000
- Section 66: criminalises the sending of offensive messages through a computer or any other communication devices.
- Section 66F: provides for the punishment of cyber terrorism.
ANALYSIS OF THE JUDGEMENT
- The plea has been led by A.Anand, the President of Puducherry State Committee of the Democratic Youth Federation of India. The plea claims that the BJP Unit of Puducherry has acquired unauthorized access to the personal data of the locals of Union Territory of Puducherry from the Aadhar UIDAI database and using the data for its own political mileage illegally.
- Moderately, the plea articulates that the petitioner as well as the other Puducherry citizens obtained messages on their mobile phones with invitation links to join booth-level WhatsApp groups supposedly created by BJP.
- The Plea also expresses astonishment concerning the fact that when the electoral rolls planned by the ECI do not comprise of phone numbers, it is uncertain as to from where the BJP got access to the mobile numbers of the voters. Significantly, the Plea also expresses, "Being the ruling party at the center, BJP has exploited its seat of power and indulged in identity theft under section 66 of Information Technology Act, 2000, clearly in breach of the fiduciary duty it owes towards its subjects. The said offence is executed with an intent to threaten the security of the country, which is leading to the offence of cyber terrorism under section 66F of Information Technology Act, 2000."
- The plea also asserts that the circumstances are not only a violation of the model of conduct but a serious threat to the security and the integrity of the nation.
- Prominently referring to the decision of K. S. Puttaswamy Vs Union of India1, the plea has claimed, "The ruling BJP at the Centre, has wretchedly failed to function its fiduciary duty by infringing the privacy of the voters of the Union Territory of Puducherry for its personal and the political interest as in the contradiction of the compelling State interest in utter violation of the law of the land."
- On 24th March, calling it a subject of 'serious nature', the bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy had grimly remarked, "It will not do for the Election Commission to pass the buck in this case and say that the cybercrimes division is leading an investigation. “Calling for a report from the EC concerning this matter, the Madras High Court had also said, "When the EC is up and about in all other matters and declares its primacy and authority, it has to look into this allegation instantly and with the degree of seriousness that it deserves."
- The Court labelled it 'unfortunate' that UIDAI rather than trying to ascertain how the personal details of voters may have been revealed from its system, accused the petitioner of not having brought the subject matter to the notice of the relevant authority.
- Further, noting that the EC brought the subject to the notice of the seventh respondent UIDAI, the Court instructed UIDAI to instantly ascertain how such material could have been accessed by political party.
- The Court also noticed that the Election Commission declared a notice on March 25, 2021, a day after the writ petition was contemplated by the Court, asking all political parties to hold to the model code of conduct in the sense that no bulk messages should be sent in Puducherry without obtaining pre-certification from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Puducherry.
CONCLUSION
Witnessing that the personal details of voters and citizens may have been acquired by the Puducherry unit of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), and put to use for campaigning purposes, the Madras High Court on Friday, i.e., 26th March 2021 directed Election Commission to file a status indicating the steps taken by it in the subject matter on 31st March 2021.
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