Page No.# 1/9 GAHC010012822025 2025:GAU-AS:971 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : WP(C)/350/2025 JOYNAL AHMED AND 9 ORS. S/O LATE SAFIQUR RAHMAN VILL-KHUDRAKANDI P.O.KALIGANJBAZAR, P.S. KARIMGANJ DIST.SRIBHUMI,ASSAM, PIN-788720 2: SHAMIM AHMED S/O LATE AHMED MURTAZA VILLAGE AND P.O. KALIGANJ BAZAR P.S. AND DIST. SRIBHUMI ASSAM PIN-788720 3: FAKRUL ISLAM S/O LATE SHAMSUL HAQUE VILL- GHURARDHAP P.O.KALIGANJ BAZAR P.S. AND DIST. SRIBHUMI ASSAM PIN-788720 4: ABDUL NOOR S/O WACHIT ALI VILL-BALESWAR P.O. KALIGANJ BAZAR P.S. AND DIST. SRIBHUMI ASSAM PIN-7888720 Page No.# 2/9 5: JOYNAL UDDIN S/O FOYJUL ISLAM VILL-KHAGKANDI P.O. KALIGANJ BAZAR P.S. AND DIST. SRIBHUMI ASSAM PIN-788720 6: TAHER AHMED S/O LATE SOIAB ALI VILL-LOKDAS P.O.KALIGANJ BAZAR P.S. AND DIST. SRIBHUMI ASSAM PIN-788720 7: HUSSAIN AHMED S/O LATEABDUL BARI VILL-KHAGKANDI P.O.KALIGANJ BAZAR P.S.AND DIST. SRIBHUMI ASSAM PIN-788720 8: HUSSAIN AHMED S/O MOIN UDDIN VILL- RATANPUR P.O. KALIGANJ BAZAR P.S. AND DIST. SRIBHUMI ASSAM PIN-788720 9: ABDUL MANNAN S/O IBRAHIM ALI VILL-BALESWAR P.O. KALIGANJ BAZAR P.S. AND DIST. SRIBHUMI ASSAM PIN-788720 Page No.# 3/9 10: ALTAB HUSSAIN S/O FAYJUR RAHMAN VILL- BALESWAR P.O. KALIGANJ BAZAR P.S. AND DIST. SRIBHUMI ASSAM PIN-78872 VERSUS THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 5 ORS REPRESENTED BY THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY TO THE GOVT OF ASSAM PANCHAYAT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, DISPUR GUWAHATI-6 2:THE ASSAM STATE ELECTION COMISSION REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY DISPUR GUWAHATI-06 3:THE COMMISSIONER PANCHAYAT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT PANJABARI JURIPAR GUWAHAT-37. 4:THE DISTRICT DELIMITATION COMMISSION REPRESENTED BY ITS CHAIRMAN CUM THE DISTRICT COMMISSIONER SRIBHUMI ASSAM PIN-788710 5:THE DISTRICT ELECTORAL REGISTRATION OFFICER SRIBHUMI P.O. AND DIST. SRIBHUMI ASSAM PIN-788710 6:THE BLOCK DEVELOPMENT OFFICER SOUTH KARIMGANJ DEVELOPMENT BLOCK P.O.KALIGANJ DIST. SRIBHUMI ASSAM PIN-78872 Page No.# 4/9 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR H R A CHOUDHURY, MD. GIASH UDDIN,H YEASMIN,MR H I CHOUDHURY Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM, SC, A S E C,SC, P AND R.D. BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY ORDER Date : 27-01-2025 Heard Mr. H.R.A. Choudhury, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. H.I. Choudhury, learned counsel for the petitioners; Mr. K. Konwar, learned Additional Advocate General, Assam for the respondent nos. 1, 3, 4 & 6; and Mr. R. Dubey, learned Standing Counsel, Assam State Election Commission for the respondent nos. 2 & 5. 2. In view of the limited nature of grievances raised by the petitioner in this writ petition and as agreed to by the learned counsel for the parties with regard to the process for rectification of the final Panchayat Electoral Rolls notified by Communication bearing no. SEC.07/2023/Pt-1/84 dated 17.01.2025, this writ petition is taken up for final consideration, at the motion stage itself. 3. The petitioners, 10 [ten] in nos., have approached this Court by the instant writ petition stating that they have a common cause of action, which has arisen out of an electoral roll published for 90 no. Kaliganj Gaon Panchayat, District – Sribhumi. 4. The petitioners have projected that earlier, Kaliganj Gaon Panchayat [G.P.] was within the territorial jurisdiction of North Karimganj Assembly Constituency. After the recent delimitation process, Kaliganj Gaon Panchayat has been brought Page No.# 5/9 under the territorial jurisdiction of the newly constituted South Karimganj Legislative Assembly Constituency [LAC] and a new Gaon Panchayat i.e. 90 No. Kaliganj Gaon Panchayat has been constituted. For better elucidation, the case projected by the petitioners is as under :- [i] The petitioner no. 1 [Joynal Ahmed] was earlier a voter under Ward No. 7 of Kaliganj G.P. and after delimitation of the constituencies, the petitioner no. 1 has now become a voter of Ward No. 7 of 90 No. Kaliganj G.P. [ii] The petitioner no. 2 [Shamim Ahmed] was earlier a voter under Ward No. 2 of Kaliganj G.P. and after delimitation of constituencies, the petitioner no. 2 has now become a voter of Ward No. 5 of 90 No. Kaliganj G.P. The voters of his revenue village have been transferred to another ward, which is far away from earlier polling station. [iii] The petitioner no. 3 [Fakrul Islam] was earlier a voter under Ward No. 9 of Kaliganj G.P. and after delimitation of constituencies, the petitioner no. 3 has now become a voter of Ward No. 9 of 90 No. Kaliganj G.P. [iv] The petitioner no. 4 [Abdul Noor] was earlier a voter under Ward No. 2 of Kaliganj G.P. and after delimitation of constituencies, the petitioner no. 4 has now become a voter of Ward No. 3 of 90 No. Kaliganj G.P. The new polling station is now at more than 3 KM distance. [v] The petitioner no. 5 [Joynal Uddin] was earlier a voter under Ward No. 6 of Kaliganj G.P. and after delimitation of constituencies, the petitioner no. 5 has now become a voter of Ward No. 8 of 90 No. Kaliganj G.P. [vi] The petitioner no. 6 [Taher Ahmed] was earlier a voter under Ward No. 4 of Page No.# 6/9 Kaliganj G.P. and after delimitation of constituencies, the petitioner no. 6 has now become a voter of Ward No. 6 of 90 No. Kaliganj G.P. [vii] The petitioner no. 7 [Hussain Ahmed] was earlier a voter under Ward No. 10 of Kaliganj G.P. and after delimitation of constituencies, the petitioner no. 7 has now become a voter of Ward No. 5 of 90 No. Kaliganj G.P. His new polling station is now at a far distance from his household. [viii] The petitioner no. 8 [Hussain Ahmed] was earlier a voter under Ward No. 6 of Kaliganj G.P. and after delimitation of constituencies, the petitioner no. 8 has now become a voter of Ward No. 5 of 90 No. Kaliganj G.P. Earlier Ward No. 6 has been abolished and his family members have been transferred to Srimanta Kanishail G.P. under North Karimganj Constituency. [ix] The petitioner no. 9 [Joynal Uddin] was earlier a voter under Ward No. 3 of Kaliganj G.P. and after delimitation of constituencies, the petitioner no. 9 has now become a voter of Ward No. 2 of 90 No. Kaliganj G.P. [x] The petitioner no. 10 [Joynal Uddin] was earlier a voter under Ward No. 7 of Kaliganj G.P. and after delimitation of constituencies, the petitioner no. 10 has now become a voter of Ward No. 8 of 90 No. Kaliganj G.P. 5. The main grievance of the petitioners is that an arbitrary procedure has been adopted in relocating the households of the petitioners in different wards. As a result, some of the households from the same previous wards, got relocated in other wards after the delimitation process. Another common grievance of the petitioners is that the population ratio, required to be maintained is not maintained in respect of their wards. It is submitted on behalf of the petitioners that contiguous households should be included within one Page No.# 7/9 ward and in case of the petitioners, after enrollment, some of them have to travel a much longer distance to exercise the right to franchise as their polling stations are found to be at a far distance. 6. Both Mr. Konwar and Mr. Dubey have referred to a Communication whereby guidelines for relocation of the final Panchayat Electoral Rolls have been laid down. 7. Mr. Choudhury, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioners has submitted that, at this stage, the petitioners are not pressing the broader issue as regards maintenance of population ratio as their main concern is their enrollment as a voter in the same ward as was previous to the delimitation process, so that voters of contiguous households can vote in the same polling station. 8. On perusal of the Communication dated 17.01.2025, it is noticed that the Assam State Election Commission has indicated that relocation of the final Panchayat Electoral Rolls as per delimitation notification will be allowed in case any relocation request is submitted with details mentioned below – 1. Briefly highlight the specific reason for rectification in the Gaon Panchayat Ward [along with the Polling Station] where the changes are required. 2. Elector assigning/un-assigning issues : If any elector has been wrongly assigned to another polling station or constituency in violation of the delimitation notification, the rectification request must be verified and certified by the concerned District Commissioner. In case of large number of assigning/un-assigning of electors a justification from the concerned ERO must be enclosed. 3. Claims and objections rectifications : For any rectifications regarding shifting/deletion of electors during the Claims and Objections Page No.# 8/9 period, the request must indicate the EPIC [Elector’s Photo Identity Card] number of the concerned elector. 9. It is submitted both by Mr. Konwar and Mr. Dubey that in case the petitioners submit such rectification request individually with the details indicated in the Communication dated 17.01.2025, the competent authority will give consideration to such request. It is noticed from the Communication dated 17.01.2025 that the respective jurisdictional District Commissioner has been requested to do the needful. On issuance of the Communication dated 17.01.2025 of the Assam State Election Commission, the District Commissioner, Sribhumi has issued a Notification bearing no. SDV[PE]1/2024/102 dated 18.01.2025 directing all Electoral Registration Officers, Panchayat Election and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, Panchayat Election to take necessary action in accordance with the instructions provided by the Assam State Election Commission. 10. Mr. Choudhury, learned Senior Counsel has submitted that the petitioners are ready to submit rectification applications individually highlighting the grievances with the details before the jurisdictional Electoral Registration Officer/Assistant Electoral Registration Officer, Panchayat Election on or before 31.01.2025. 11. Having regard to the broad consensus arrived at by the learned counsel for the parties, the issue urged herein by the petitioners would require factual determination on the basis of the territorial limits of different wards, which is not, ordinarily, to be undertaken in a writ proceeding, it is provided that the petitioners shall submit rectification applications individually highlighting their respective grievances and by providing the details, as indicated in the Page No.# 9/9 Communication dated 17.01.2025 before the jurisdictional Electoral Registration Officer/Assistant Electoral Registration Officer, Panchayat Election on or before 31.01.2025 and in the event such rectification applications are submitted, the jurisdictional Electoral Registration Officer, Panchayat Election shall give due consideration to such rectification application in terms of the guidelines issued by Assam State Election Commission in its Communication dated 17.01.2025. The respective authority shall thereafter, dispose of the individual rectification application by passing a speaking order thereon within 15 days from the date of receipt of such respective application and the speaking order so passed on the respective rectification shall be communicated to the concerned applicants forthwith thereafter. It is accordingly ordered. This order disposes of the writ petition. JUDGE Comparing Assistant