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Dismissing the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) demanding postponement of ongoing Uttar Pradesh State Assembly Polls 2022 on grounds of certain discrepancies in the information/data provided by the Election Commission of India, the Allahabad High Court termed it 'highly misconceived.' 

The bench of Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Mohd. Faiz Alam Khan noted, "We have not been able to decipher as to what prejudice is being caused because of the said discrepancy so far as the statutory rights of an elector or a candidate of casting his vote or participation in the election are concerned. In our considered opinion, the writ petition is highly misconceived, which is hereby dismissed."

Rajan Singh, the petitioner who also argued the case in person, had moved the PIL alleging that the Election Commission of India (ECI) while issuing the Press Note pertaining to the information regarding the assembly elections in the state, titled as "Election Commission of India State Election, 2017 to the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh", had given certain factually incorrect information.

Singh's main contention was that due to the discrepancies in the data pertaining to the number of Polling Stations, number of Votes not retrieved from EVM, Test Votes, Rejected Votes due to other reasons and NOTA Vote in the said press note, the electors in the State of Uttar Pradesh had not been given correct information, which will hamper their decision while casting vote. 

Against this backdrop, Singh had sought directions to the ECI to clarify the aforementioned facts. However, he had further demanded that in event of failure to do the same, the Legislative Assembly Election-2022 may be postponed until an inquiry is conducted by any independent Committee.

However, the court rejected Singh's apprehensions. Court said, "We notice...that in the entire petition as also during the course of argument, the petitioner has utterly failed to point out any prejudice which can be said to be caused on account of alleged incorrect information regarding number of Polling Booths/Stations or even the number of votes which could not be retrieved from EVM etc."

Therefore, dumping Singh's plea, Court added, "Such variance in the Data contained in the Press Note dated 08.01.2022, in our considered opinion, does not affect, in any manner, the elections which are presently being conducted by the Election Commission of India."

However, before parting with the matter, Court made a significant observation. Court noted, "We, however, hope and expect that Election Commission of India shall be cautious in future so that such discrepancy in its data is not reflected."

Case Title: Rajan Singh v. Election Comm.Of India Thru. Chief Election Comm. And Anr