Raising alarm over the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s reliance on its software system that, it claimed, left officials with no option but to reject applications, a Goa bench of the Bombay high court has ruled that the draft electoral roll prepared as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) cannot be basis for voter name deletions without following statutory procedure, The New Indian Express reported.
A division bench of Justice Amit S Jamsandekar and Justice Valmiki Menezes was hearing a petition by six members of a family, led by Paresh Salgaonkar, whose names were deleted from the electoral roll after they shifted to a new house within the same Santa Cruz assembly constituency.
The petitioners had informed the court that they had submitted Form 8 as directed by the booth level officer, to update their address but upon processing the applications, officials found that their Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) details were no longer available in the ERONET system. As a result, officials could only select the “reject” option, the petitioners said.
ERONET is the poll body’s official application for processing electoral forms and managing voter rolls.
The bench said it was “very perturbed” by this claim and sought an explanation from the poll body about the rejection of Form 8 applications by its software during the SIR exercise in the state.
According to the report, the family was asked to submit Form 6, a document meant for fresh inclusion of names in the electoral roll, that the petitioners argued was inappropriate as they were existing voters seeking only a change of address, within the same constituency.
The bench agreed, observing that the statutory forms would lose their purpose if voters could be deleted over software issues and forced to apply afresh. “Otherwise, Form 6, 7 or 8 have no meaning,” the court said.
‘Became new for your system’
The bench slammed the ECI’s reliance on ERONET, saying the officials appeared to have relied on the software rather than applying their own judgment.
“He was never a new voter. He was an existing voter. He became new for your system,” the court observed, adding that this was “only one family”.
“Take a situation where there are so many people who have shifted residence,” it said, raising concerns over widespread discrepancies.
Further questioning how their names could be deleted without an opportunity to be heard, it also asked the ECI to show the legal provision that allowed them that power: “Show us from the Act…what empowers you to delete without hearing?”
The judges observed that a mechanism must be put in place instead of simply rejecting applications, noting that the ECI’s objective of maintaining an accurate electoral roll could be defeated if the issue continued.
“Your officers were helpless, and they just decided to throw it on the system. So, they recorded it in the order, saying that the system has rejected. We are very perturbed by this,” the bench observed.
In its previous hearing, a day ago, the high court bench had reprimanded the poll body severely on the commission for its removal. Talking about the provisions under the Representation of People Act, 1950, and Registration of Voter Rules, the bench had said, “SIR effectively by whatever instructions, has suspended the full system. It suspends Section 22, Rule 21A and all those rules and says forget about all the laws. Now you follow the software. It cannot be like this. What is the explanation for this?”
The hearing also comes amid a series of concerns regarding the election commission’s handling of the SIR exercise, including reported revelations of mismanagement within the poll body.
The matter is listed for further hearing till October 5.
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