Voters who relocate must inform us, EC tells Bombay HC amid deletion row

The Election Commission on Thursday told the Bombay High Court that keeping electoral rolls updated was not solely its responsibility, arguing that voters who shift residences must also inform the poll panel about the change.

The submission came during a hearing before the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court on a plea filed by a family from Santa Cruz, Goa, whose names were deleted from the electoral rolls after they shifted residence despite having submitted Form 8 seeking an address change.

Representing the Election Commission, advocate Gaurish Agni questioned why the poll panel alone was being held responsible when voters were also required to inform the authorities after moving.

“Why is the Commission being questioned that ‘you should do this’? Why is the petitioner not being questioned?” Agni told the court. He argued that the petitioner had not informed the Commission about the change of residence for eight years.

The bench, however, said the issue was larger than the individual petitioner and pointed out that thousands of people could have similarly shifted residences.

“Forget this petitioner. We are trying to understand, like this there may be thousands who must have shifted residences,” the court said.

“There will be... Those thousands have to be questioned that why they slept for years,” Agni replied.

The case centres on voters who had shifted residences and sought to update their addresses during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Form 6 is used for registration of new voters, while Form 8 is used to request corrections or a change of residence.

The family from Santa Cruz had filled Form 8 seeking to shift their voter registration after moving from their earlier residence. However, the application was rejected and their names were subsequently deleted from the electoral roll.

The bench noted that the last SIR in Goa had been conducted in 2002 and that many people could have shifted residences since then.

During the latest SIR, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) conducted house-to-house surveys. The court observed that if people who had shifted homes were found missing from their earlier addresses, their names could have been deleted, even though the authority had also rejected Form 8 applications filed by some of them to change their addresses.COURT QUESTIONS FORM 8 REJECTIONS

The bench also raised concerns over the Election Commission's software-based system rejecting Form 8 applications and the subsequent requirement for people to file Form 6 during the ongoing SIR process.

The court said the Election Commission had access to records such as birth and death certificates and questioned whether electoral rolls could be updated more regularly using such information.

“If you are updating regularly, the moment of birth is in the system. If that person on the date he or she becomes 18, you must consider it without any applications,” the bench observed.

The bench of Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar said the eventual objective should be to ensure that the electoral roll accurately reflects who the voters are.

The court also noted that the issue was not limited to the petitioner before it, but concerned how electoral rolls were maintained when voters moved from one residence to another.HOW SIR AFFECTED SHIFTED VOTERS

The court examined whether administrative guidelines issued by the Election Commission during an SIR exercise could effectively suspend or alter the statutory mechanism under the Representation of the People Act and Rules 13 and 21A of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

Under the ECI's SIR framework, BLOs conduct house-to-house enumeration using pre-filled forms based on earlier voter databases.

If an elector has shifted residence and does not submit an enumeration form at the old address, the person's name is temporarily omitted from the draft electoral roll.

The issue arises when such a voter then files Form 8 to transfer their registration during the SIR. According to the submissions before the court, the ECI portal and Electoral Registration Officers reject such applications on the ground that Form 8 presupposes an active entry on the draft roll at the former address.

Once the name has been omitted, the ECI's position is that the voter must instead file Form 6, which is meant for fresh inclusion during the claims and objections period.

The bench observed that this could effectively require a relocated voter to sign a pre-filled enumeration form for their former residence, resulting in a requirement to make a false declaration.EC CITES SUPREME COURT RULINGS

Agni, however, referred to Supreme Court rulings that have upheld the Election Commission's guidelines.

The hearing will continue on October 5.

In Goa, the SIR was conducted in 2025. The draft electoral roll was published on December 16, 2025, while the final electoral roll was published on February 21, 2026.- Ends

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