The High Court of Karnataka has said that poll officials or Returning Officers do not have the jurisdiction to undertake search and seizure operations before the announcement of elections.
The order was recently passed by the Single-Judge Bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna, which observed that merely because they were appointed as officers for the conduct of elections, they could not use the power before the declaration of polls.
The High Court passed the order on a petition filed by one Ishtiyak Ahmed, seeking a direction to release 530 bags of rice seized from him by election officials.
Ahmed claimed that he was a well-known social worker, who actively engaged in charitable activities such as food distribution.
The plea contended that on March 19, 2023, a Returning Officer, accompanied by a Police Inspector, seized 530 bags of rice from him. The petitioner said he submitted a justification in response to the notice issued to him the following day, but the rice bags were not returned to him.
Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Syed Ummer said that he had been distributing rice to the ones in need on all festivals of the year for the past 15 years. He argued that the officials could not have seized the bags as they had no jurisdiction to do so, and sought a direction for their release.
Representing the Election Commission, Advocate S.R. Dodawad justified the actions of the officials on the ground that the petitioner had hoarded the bags for distributing them to gain votes in the Karnataka Assembly election.
However, the lawyer admitted that the election date was yet to be announced and that the officials had no authority to search and seize before commencement of election.
The Bench took in view the fact that when the seizure was made, the elections had not been notified. The petitioner had placed on record all documents after being issued notice, but was denied his rice bags, it observed.
It said after the declaration of elections, seizure could be exercised but under normal circumstances, it could be exercised only under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
The Apex Court ruled that since the officials were not vested with such authority, their act to conduct a search and seizure operation was illegal.
(Case title: Ishtiyak Ahmed vs Election Commission of India)