Bombay High Court Blocks Voter Deletions Based on Software

The Bombay High Court ruled that the draft roll under the Special Intensive Revision cannot serve as the basis for deleting names from voter lists, asserting that administrative software cannot supersede statutory laws. The decision follows a petition from Paresh Salgaonkar and five family members who were deleted from the Santa Cruz assembly constituency after attempting to update their addresses via Form 8.

The court expressed perturbation over the Election Commission of India's practice of deleting names without a hearing. Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar noted that the commission's ERONET software often forced officers to reject applications due to system glitches or missing enumeration forms, effectively disenfranchising relocated voters. The bench warned that reliance on automated rejections could erroneously remove lakhs of citizens from electoral rolls.

Counsel for the Election Commission of India, Gauresh Agni, argued that the commission possesses broad supervisory powers and questioned why the petitioners waited eight years to inform the commission of their address changes. The court rejected this stance, stating that the commission's primary mandate is to ensure citizens can vote and suggesting that applications be kept in abeyance rather than rejected outright. The case is scheduled to continue on October 5.