Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra of Supreme Court recuses from hearing PIL alleging malpractice in AP electoral rolls

Supreme Court judge Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra on Monday recused from hearing a plea alleging malpractice on part of the State government in the preparation of electoral rolls in Andhra Pradesh. [Citizens for Democracy vs Election Commission of India and ors].The matter came up before a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Mishra today, when Justice Mishra recused from hearing the same.Justice Gavai, therefore, directed that the matter be listed before another bench subject to the orders of the Chief Justice of India.Notably, Justice Mishra had earlier served as the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court prior to his elevation to the Supreme Court..The plea before the Court was filed by an organisation, Citizens for Democracy, alleging that the Andhra Pradesh government had blatantly interfered with the process of registering voters in the State.This was done with the involvement of Gram Volunteers/Ward Volunteers and Village Secretariats/Ward Secretariats, who are basically party members, the plea said. The public interest litigation (PIL) petition was, therefore, filed to maintain the sanctity in the electoral process, submitted the petitioner. "Lakhs of volunteers-primary party members of the ruling YSRC Party were appointed by the State Government ... were given additional duties of collecting sensitive personal data in garb of many governmental schemes. In the name of RTGS (Real-time Governance Society), the State of Andhra Pradesh has created a profiling tool, which is being misused for anti-democratic activity to influence voters and elections," the plea said..The situation is leading to illegal deletion and collection of names in voter lists, the plea added. "Modus operendi ... is to collect the big data illegally and create profiles of voters- their choices and then to manipulate the election. The conspiracy is kept under wraps by keeping the same a secret, without transparency/ accountability," the petitioner said..The petitioner, thus, suggested that teachers should be employed for registering voters instead of party cadre. The government order allowing the party members be part of preparing electoral rolls should be quashed, the plea added. .Further, Criminal action is also sought against erring officials for allegedly breaching the privacy of lakhs of citizens in the State of Andhra Pradesh..Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal with advocates Vipin Nair and Sughosh Subramanyam represented the petitioner-organisation..On a related note, in September this year, Justice Mishra recused from hearing the bail plea filed by former Delhi Minister Satyender Jain in the money laundering case against him. In August, he recused from hearing the bail plea filed by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student and activist Umar Khalid in connection with the Delhi Riots conspiracy case.