- Bombay HC questioned EC over citizen family’s electoral roll deletion.
- Court challenged EC’s Special Intensive Revision process excluding citizens.
- Judges criticized EC’s Form 6/Form 8 requirements as
- Court ordered EC to submit forms, hearing continues Tuesday.
The Bombay High Court on Monday questioned the Election Commission over how Paresh Salgaonkar and his family of five were deleted from Goa’s electoral rolls despite being Indian citizens and submitting Form 8 for a change of address.
The two-judge bench of Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar asked the EC how citizens could be excluded through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
“…the Election Commission has a constitutional obligation to ensure that only persons who are citizens are on the rolls. If by this process (special intensive revision or SIR), citizens are excluded, then what is the purpose of this mandate,” the bench asked, reported The Times of India.
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Bombay HC Questions Purpose Of SIR
The court said the purpose of SIR was to determine whether a voter was an Indian citizen, rather than simply establish whether the person was residing at a particular place.
“The basis of SIR is not to see whether the voter is present in a particular place or not, but to find out whether the voter is an Indian citizen or not. This seems to be the reason why there is an SIR,” the court said.
Referring to Rule 21 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, the judges said, “everything must be seen qua the existing roll and not draft roll, otherwise a voter has absolutely no way out of this”. The bench said the EC had put the voter “in a Catch-22 situation”.
Court Questions Notices To Salgaonkar Family
The court also questioned whether the Election Commission had issued notices to the family before deleting their names from the electoral rolls.
Gaurish Agni, counsel representing the Election Commission, said notices were published on notice boards at every level because the voters’ fresh details may not have been available with the commission.
Agni said that under the guidelines, Form 8 could not have been processed for those whose names had been deleted from the draft rolls because they had not filled out enumeration forms. He said Salgaonkar could have filled Form 6 because he was a new voter in a new part and the SIR treated the exercise as if the roll was starting completely afresh.
“Form 8 is an objection to the draft roll from that place. It is to correct your draft roll and include the voter’s name. Form 8 is precisely that,” the bench said.
The judges said Form 6 was meant for declaring that a person’s name was missing from the place where the voter resides and that the person should be added to the rolls.
“If he gives you Form 6, it’s a false declaration. If he gives you Form 8 (for change of address), you do not accept it but ask him to give the enumeration form. There are no enumeration forms in the history of this country,” the judges said.
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‘No Voter Should Sign This’: Bombay HC
The court questioned how a person who had shifted from one part to another and was already on the electoral rolls could be asked to submit a Form 6 declaration in a prefilled enumeration form.
“The declarations are such that the voter has to declare in a prefilled form to include the person in that same place, while the person is not residing in that place. How will a person make such a declaration when he knows his name is in another place? The moment he makes this declaration, he’s open to prosecution. This is a false statement…” the bench said.
“No voter is going to sign this. No voter should sign this. We are saying they should not sign this. How can he apply for inclusion in this place if he doesn’t reside there?” the court said.
The bench asked the Election Commission to submit the enumeration form and annexures to the forms.
The Bombay High Court will continue hearing the matter on Tuesday.
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