Bombay High Court on Thursday ordered the Election Commission of India to keep Form 8s pending instead of rejecting them, after a family’s names were deleted from the Santa Cruz voter roll.
The petitioners, Paresh Salgaonkar and relatives, had moved to a new house within the same assembly constituency and were instructed by the Booth Level Officer to file Form 8 for a change of address. When the form was processed, no EPIC record was found, leading the commission to reject it.
Advocate Gaurish Agni, speaking for the ECI, explained that the commission could consider Form 6 only after a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and that Form 8s submitted outside the enumeration period would be dismissed. He added that the petitioners could still come with Form 6 after the SIR to update their address.
Justice Valmiki Menezes, joined by Justice Amit S. Jamsandekar, warned that rejecting a Form 8 removes a voter from the roll and that the commission’s purpose is to ensure every eligible citizen can vote. The bench urged the commission to keep such forms pending until the SIR is completed, noting that the law’s objective cannot be overridden by procedural rigidity.
The court also highlighted that the SIR, held after 24 years, should occur more regularly to keep the roll current, citing birth and death certificates as reliable data sources.
The next hearing on the matter will take place on October 5, when the commission’s compliance with the court’s directive will be examined.