HC dismisses plea on voting by govt servants

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking directions to create a mechanism to check whether central and state government employees in Karnataka have voted on polling day - which was declared a holiday.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari was hearing a petition filed by T N Pratap, Chartered Accountant. The court dismissed the petition on the ground that the prayers sought by the petitioner cannot be considered under the PIL jurisdiction.

The petitioner had contended that the polling day was declared a paid holiday to enable government servants cast their votes. However, the government employees hardly go to the polling booth to cast their votes.

The petitioner had stated that he gave a representation to the authorities concerned in this regard, but there was no action.

The petitioner also added at present there was no mechanism to check whether the employees have voted or not. He had also contended that in the recent held Assembly elections held in the state, the voter turnout was very low despite there being a large number of government servants. He had claimed that every person whose name appears in the voters list had a duty to cast his vote and use the holiday for the purpose of voting.