No Voter's Name Can Be Struck From Electoral Rolls Without Following Due Process : Election Commission Tells Supreme Court

Mr Amit Sharma appearing for the ECI drew the attention of the Court to the directions passed by the Chief Electoral Officer, U.P regarding the revision of electoral rolls of assembly constituencies where the guidelines issued on 29.5.2023 by the ECI were notified to be continued, as opposed the contention of the petitioners that the guidelines dated May 29, 2023 of the ECI have not been followed.

He further submitted that “ Thereafter after 29th of May 2023, ECI further issued instructions to all the COs (Chief Officers) with regard to the deletion of the name of electors from the electoral roll in case of shifting, demographic similar entries and death … these were the elaborate instructions issued, it also carried out the legal remedy available to any aggrieved voter”

As per S.26 of the Registration of Electoral Rules 1961, Mr Sharma explained, that any aggrieved voter who wants to make corrections regarding his name in the voter's list has to approach the concerned Electoral Registration Officers (ERO). The ERO cannot straight away take action by itself, Form 7 provided under the 1961 Rules has to be duly signed by the voter. Thus the Counsel for ECI stressed, that “ No voter's name can be struck out without following the due process being followed”.

Form 7 is the Voter Application Form for Objection for Proposed Inclusion/ Deletion of Name in Existing Electoral Roll. Section 23 of the 1961 Rules further provides an appeal against the decision of the Registration Officer. However, Section 21A provides powers to the registration officer to take steps to delete names of voters who are either dead or shifted residence.

“ 21A. Deletion of names.—If it appears to the registration officer at any time before the final publication of the roll that owing to inadvertence or error or otherwise, the names of dead persons or of persons who have ceased to be, or are not, ordinarily residents in the constituency or of persons who are otherwise not entitled to be registered in that roll, have been included in the roll and that remedial action should be taken under this rule, the registration officer, shall—

(a) prepare a list of the names and other details of such electors;

(b) exhibit on the notice board of his office a copy of the list together with a notice as to the time and place at which the question of deletion of these names from the roll will be considered, and also publish the list and the notice in such other manner as he may think fit; and

(c) after considering any verbal or written objections that may be preferred, decide whether all or any of the names should be deleted from the roll:

Provided that before taking any action under this rule in respect of any person on the ground that he has ceased to be, or is not, ordinarily resident in the constituency, or is otherwise not entitled to be registered in that roll, the registration officer shall make every endeavour to give him a reasonable opportunity to show cause why the action proposed should not be taken in relation to him”

Taking note of the same, the CJI was of the opinion that while adequate legal measures are present for the aggrieved voters to exercise their choice in cases of errors in the electoral roll, the Court may not be required to continue with the present proceedings.

The bench therefore, being satisfied by the detailed response of the ECI, disposed of the petition observing - “ Based on the disclosure made in counter...we are satisfied that no further directions are required by the court, we accordingly close these proceedings at this stage.”

Accordingly, the PIL filed by Samvidhan Bachao Trust was closed.

Case Title: Samvidhan Bachao Trust v Election Commission of India W.P.(C) No. 1228/2023 PIL-W