Point of Law: power of the Court to examine the reasonableness of an order of the authorities does not enable the Court to look into the sufficiency of the grounds in support of a decision to examine the merits of the decision, sitting as if in appeal over the decision. The test is not what the Court considers reasonable or unreasonable but a decision which the Court thinks that no reasonable person could have taken, which has led to manifest injustice. The writ Court does not interfere, because a decision is not perfect.

ORDER:

1. This writ petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to declare the action of the respondents in publishing the Electoral Roll without following the procedural instructions and rules pertaining to the Ward No.78 of Respondent Corporation with wrong entries in the total BC voters as 1026 instead of around 2500 voters and SC voters as 431 instead of around 2000 and not considering the objections submitted by the petitioners in the form of representations dated 10.02.2020, 15.02.2020 and 19.02.2020 and 07.02.2020 as illegal and arbitrary and consequently direct the Respondents to consider the Representations of the petitioners 10.02.2020, 15.02.2020 and 19.02.2020, correct the wrong entries in electoral roll of ward number 78 of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and take steps to rectify the same.

2. Petitioner No.1 is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxisst). Petitioner No.2 is ex-councilor of the Ward No.78. Petitioner Nos.3 and 4 are voters of the Ward.

3. It is the case of the petitioners that the ordinary elections to Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation are to be held shortly along with other Municipal Corporations. Respondent Nos.2 issued several instructions for preparation and publication of ward-wise photo electoral rolls through various notifications. The Commissioners of Municipal Corporations are authorized to prepare and publish the same vide Circular No.84/Sec-F1/2019 dated 28.01.2020. As per the provisions of Section 12 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1955 and Rules framed thereunder, the entries in the Assembly Electoral rolls published with reference to 01.01.2019 as qualifying date and updated up to 23.12.2019 are to be adopted for preparation of ward-wise photo electoral rolls of the Municipal Corporations.

4. In view of the above instructions, respondent No.3 submitted his report vide number 366/2020/Gvmcele 2020/D1 dated 03.02.2020 to respondent No.2, wherein the details of ST, SC and BC voters are given. In the said report, with regard to ward number 78, it has been shown that total ST voters are 151, total SC voters are 432, total BC voters are 1026 and other voters are 8304. It is contended that before publishing the electoral roll, the respondents did not follow any circular issued by respondent No.2. According to the circular issued by respondent No.2 dated 28.01.2020 the Electoral Rolls should be published on the notice board of ward of concerned area etc., but the electoral roll has not been published with regard to ward No.78. According to Rule 5 (E) of the Andhra Pradesh Municipal Corporations Preparation and Publication of Electoral Rolls Rules, 2001, a copy of each separate list of the electoral roll should supply free of cost to every political party for which a symbol has been exclusively reserved by the Election Commission.

5. It is further alleged that wrong entry was made in the report submitted by respondent No.3 to respondent No.2 on 03.02.2020 with regard to total BC and SC voters of the ward number 78. There are more than 2000 BC voters, but the number of B.C voters has been shown as 1026, and around 1500 SC voters has been shown as OC voters. The wrong entry with regard to the BC and SC voters is having serious repercussions in allotment of reservations of the ward. In view of the said wrong entry, the petitioner submitted representations to respondent No.3 on 31.01.2020 and 19.02.2020. According to the circular issued by respondent No.1 dated 11.01.2020, respondent No.2 has to publish draft electoral roll of B.C voters in Form I in the Municipal Office, RDO’s Office, Tahsildar office and copy of the same has to be supplied to all political parties registered with the State Election Commission, Andhra Pradesh. But, the draft electoral roll has not been published and not supplied to the registered political parties. However, the petitioners submitted their objections in the form of representation to respondent No.3. It