Hyderabad: Telangana high court on Monday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to consider providing enumeration forms in Urdu for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in constituencies where the Urdu-speaking population exceeds 20%.The court was hearing a petition challenging the printing of SIR forms only in Telugu.While declining to pass any interim order, Justice B Vijaysen Reddy directed the ECI to submit a compliance report on the issue by the next date of hearing. He questioned why the poll body could not print forms in multiple languages for the convenience of voters.“The ECI is a body conducting elections in the world’s largest democracy. You should have answers and solutions, not say it is not possible. The ECI should know democracy is the will of the people,” the judge remarked during the hearing.He also observed that Aadhaar cards, bank account forms and several govt services are available in multiple languages to help citizens understand them easily. There was no reason, he said, why the enumeration forms could not similarly be printed in multiple languages or carry different languages on either side.Appearing for the ECI, senior counsel Avinash Desai submitted that printing forms in different languages for such a large population would impose a significant financial burden on the govt and could also create confusion.“Since Telugu is the official language, that is what is used. Also, in the Hyderabad metropolitan region, English forms are used. In addition, Urdu dummy (sample) forms have been made available for the benefit of Urdu-speaking people,” he submitted.Objecting to the ECI’s stand, senior counsel V Raghunath, appearing for the petitioner, M A Mujeeb, a social worker from Karimnagar, argued that financial burden was not the real reason behind the decision.“The hidden agenda of the ECI is to target minorities and certain communities and delete their votes. How does carrying a dummy form help the voters?” he alleged.Describing the demand as reasonable, Raghunath argued that the process must be fair.“If BLOs in Hyderabad can carry English forms, what is the difficulty in carrying them in other districts of the state? Moreover, when all political parties have opined that the process should be bilingual, what is the difficulty? This is nothing but a violation of rights,” he argued.Raghunath also alleged that many booth level officers (BLOs) deployed for the exercise were not adequately familiar with the procedures, with some not even aware of the technical requirements. They were also facing language barriers while interacting with voters, he claimed.Taking note of the submissions, the judge questioned why BLOs familiar with different languages had not been deployed before adjourning the matter for further hearing.The court also directed the petitioner and the ECI to submit details of the SIR process followed in West Bengal, Assam and Bihar.
