Goa SIR: Bombay HC orders EC to restore 6 deleted names of family
The names were deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise despite the family having applied for a change of address through Form 8.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday (November 5) directed the Election Commission of India (EC) to restore six names of a Goa family to the electoral rolls within 10 days.
The Goa Bench of the High Court, comprising Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar, gave the direction while hearing a petition filed by Paresh Salgaonkar and five members of his family, residents of the Santa Cruz Assembly constituency.
EC rejects appeal, family moves HC
The names were deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise despite Salgaonkar having applied for a change of address through Form 8.
Also read: Can deleted voters be asked to submit Form 6 again? What experts say
After the EC rejected their appeals, the family approached the High Court.
Advocate Vivek Rodrigues, representing Salgaonkar and his family, told reporters that the high court ordered that the petitioners' names be restored to the electoral rolls within 10 days.
Rodrigues said that the name of the petitioner (Salgaonkar) was on the electoral rolls earlier, and he had been casting his vote since 1995, but his name was deleted because he had changed his residence.
Despite filing Form 8, which was for the change of residence, his name was deleted, he added.
The lawyer said Salgaonkar and his five family members were "not allowed" to be on the rolls.
What HC said
Rodrigues said the petitioner had filed appeals before the ECI, which were rejected, following which he filed the writ petition before the Bombay HC.
After the HC order, advocate Gaurish Agni, representing the ECI, sought a stay on the verdict pending a challenge before the Supreme Court. The HC, however, rejected the plea.
The Bench said, “We allow the petition... 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.... This is not pertaining to SIR... We therefore ordered the BLO of Santacruz Constituency (in Goa) to add the names of the petitioners within a period of 10 days from today.”
Salgaonkar and his family members had filed the writ petition before the high court in September. The hearing in the case had begun on September 28.
(With agency inputs)