Civic body polls: Kerala HC directs EC to update voters' list

The Kerala High Court on Thursday allowed an appeal seeking a directive to the Election

Commission to conduct the local body elections based on the voters' list it had prepared for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

It also directed the EC to update the voters' list incorporating names of the qualified voters up to February 7,

2020, for the civic body polls schduled later this year. The Division Bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and

Justice Shaji P Chaly gave the direction on the writ appeal filed by leaders of the Congress-led UDF including Sooppy

Narikkatteri of IUML and others. They moved the bench after a single judge dismissed their

petition challenging the decision of the State Election Commission to conduct the upcoming local body elections based

on the voters' list it had prepared for the 2015 civic body polls.

Dismissing the plea, the single bench had held that the matters relating to the election was the prerogative of Election

Commission. Narikkatteri and the UDF leaders had moved the court

after the SEC had issued a direction to the election officers to renew the electoral roll of all local bodies.