Justice Ujjal Bhuyan delivered his valedictory address at the 19th Justice Bodh Raj Sawhney Memorial Moot Court Competition at NALSAR University of Law and seized the moment to denounce the government’s practice of removing voter names en masse.
He grounded his argument in Article 326 and Article 14 of the Constitution, insisting that the right to vote is a fundamental constitutional right that cannot be treated as a mere statutory privilege.
Bhuyan cited a Supreme Court order that established a clear procedure for deleting a name from the electoral roll: a notice and a hearing must precede any removal, except when the individual is deceased. Section 22 of the Representation of the People Act confirms this requirement, and the judge warned that bypassing it amounts to arbitrary disenfranchisement.
In a broader philosophical note, Bhuyan quoted US Judge Frankfurter’s observation that the highest office in a democracy belongs to the citizen, not the president, underscoring that a democracy’s legitimacy rests on the participation of its people.
He urged the judiciary and the Election Commission to conduct an immediate review of the deletion mechanism, warning that continued mass removals could trigger a constitutional crisis and undermine public trust.
NALSAR Vice‑Chancellor Srikrishna Deva Rao and faculty members applauded Bhuyan’s remarks, while the students thanked him for reinforcing the university’s commitment to democratic principles.