Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 | No illegality in ban on mobile phones at polling booths: Bombay High Court

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday said there was no illegality in the Election Commission of India's decision prohibiting the use of mobile phones at polling booths in the upcoming state assembly elections.

A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar dismissed a public interest litigation filed by city-based lawyer Ujala Yadav against the ban on mobile phones at polling booths in the Maharashtra assembly elections scheduled on November 20.

The PIL had urged the HC to direct the ECI and the State Election Commission to allow voters to carry phones and to show their identity proof through the DigiLocker app introduced by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology.

The bench said the ECI has powers to introduce any measures for smooth functioning of the election process.

"As it is the process of holding elections is a cumbersome process. And in this you (petitioner) are saying show documents in digilocker," the court said.

The bench said no right is vested in any person to only show their document for verification on their phones via digital lockers.

"We do not find any illegality (in ECI's decision)," the court said dismissing the petition.

The PIL had also claimed voters would be discouraged from exercising their franchise as arrangements are not made for phones to be deposited at the polling booths.

Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

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