Published Nov 05, 2026 | 10:04 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 05, 2026 | 10:04 PM
The court said the ECI cannot force citizens to make false declarations if they have shifted residence.
Synopsis: The court issued the order in a petition by one Salgaonkar family. They claimed their names had been dropped from the draft electoral roll despite submitting Form-8 to change their address. The ECI contended that the SIR guidelines mandated a voter to submit a pre-filled enumeration along with Form-8. The Salgaonkars were asked to submit Form-6 when they refused to file the enumeration form. Form-6 is for including new voters in the electoral roll.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday, 5 November, directed the central poll panel to include the names of six members of a Goan family in the final voters’ list.
Their names were deleted from the final voter list during the recently concluded Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
“We have rejected the contention of the ECI that the hearing in the present plea be deferred as the issue of SIR is pending before the Supreme Court,” a division bench of Justice Valmiki Menezes and Justice Amit Jamsendekar said. “This is not pertaining to SIR… We therefore ordered the BLO of Santacruz constituency to add the names of the petitioners within a period of 10 days from today,” Live Law reported.
The court issued the order in a petition by one Salgaonkar family. They claimed their names had been dropped from the draft electoral roll despite submitting Form-8 to change their address. The ECI contended that the SIR guidelines mandated a voter to submit a pre-filled enumeration along with Form-8.
The Salgaonkars were asked to submit Form-6 when they refused to file the enumeration form. Form-6 is for including new voters in the electoral roll.
Also Read: ‘No action against voters submitting Form-6 for re-enrolment’
The bench rejected the ECI’s argument. It said the enumeration form includes an annexure stating that the applicants still reside at the same address mentioned in the existing voters’ list. The court said the ECI cannot force citizens to make false declarations if they have shifted residence.
“If someone has changed their residence, can you compel the person to make a false declaration by submitting that pre-filled enumeration? Why can’t that person simply give a Form 8 because, anyway, his name is there in the existing list; he just wants to get his address changed? Why compel enumeration form?” Justice Menezes had observed.
Incidentally, the ECI on Tuesday, 3 October, clarified that existing voters, whose names do not appear in the draft electoral roll, can submit Form-6 for fresh inclusion.
The ECI issued the clarification after noticing that several existing voters were hesitant to use Form-6 for fresh inclusion. The hesitation stemmed from a declaration in Form-6 stating that it was for first-time inclusion.
The poll panel clarified this in line with the High Court of Delhi’s 14 October 2026 ruling in Nilotpal Datta & Anr. v. Election Commission of India & Ors., which held that fears of legal consequences in such cases were unfounded.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
