The Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeking direction to the Election Commission of India to arrange Breath Analyzers at the entry point at every polling booth.
The PIL has been filed by the petitioner which claims to be a registered political party.
The following is the prayer made in the Petition:-
“It is, therefore, prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue an order or orders, direction or Writ, more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus challenging the inaction of respondent No.1 – Election Commission of India on the representation dated 06.01.2024 of the petitioner seeking arrangement of Breathing Analyzer at the Entry Point of every Queue being maintained at every Polling Booth and allow the voters for exercise of their Voting Right, who are uninfluenced by alcohol, as arbitrary, illegal, biased, unconstitutional, against the principles of natural justice, violative of the provisions of Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 and consequently, direct respondent No.1 – Election Commission of India to arrange Breathing Analyzer at the Entry Point of every Queue being maintained at every Polling Booth and allow the voters for exercise of their Voting Right, who are uninfluenced by Alcohol and pass such other order or orders as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in circumstances of the case.”
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice R. Raghunandan Rao noted that the counsel for the petitioner has failed to draw our attention to any specific legal provision which would make it obligatory for the Election Commission of India, to ensure that every person who enters a polling booth is subjected to a Breath Analyzer test before a person is permitted to cast his/her vote.