The Supreme Court Vacation Bench, led by Justice Bela M. Trivedi, has dismissed a plea from a 78-year-old woman seeking to vote via postal ballot in the Lok Sabha elections. The bench, which included Justice Pankaj Mithal, made the decision on May 20, underscoring the impracticality of allowing home voting for all.
“Everybody would like to sit at home and cast their votes,” Justice Trivedi remarked orally while rejecting the petition filed by Sarla Srivastav. Represented by senior advocate Gaurav Agarwal and advocate Pranav Sachdeva, Ms. Srivastav argued that severe osteoarthritis in both knees had left her bedridden for the past three months.
Ms. Srivastav, who wished to vote in the Bilaspur constituency in Chhattisgarh, contested that she should be allowed to use a postal ballot. The constituency held polling on May 7, but she argued that this date was for Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) voting, not postal ballots. She further contended that the Election Commission of India (ECI) had the authority to announce new polling dates for valid reasons.
Her petition was an appeal against a Chhattisgarh High Court decision on May 6, which refused her permission to vote via postal ballot, citing it was too late to make such arrangements.
The Supreme Court’s decision highlights the challenges of extending postal ballot voting to a broader section of the population, despite the legitimate needs of some individuals. While the court acknowledged the difficulty of Ms. Srivastav’s situation, it maintained that the logistical complexities of such requests must be considered within the framework of the existing electoral process.
