The Bombay High Court at Goa on Thursday ordered the Election Commission of India (ECI) to restore the names of Paresh Salgaonkar and six of his family members to the electoral roll within 10 days, after their names were deleted during a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive.
“A core feature of the SIR is that the Electoral Roll is prepared afresh. Under the SIR, the existing roll is not carried forward automatically. The high court had reserved its verdict on October 13. Salgaonkar, a resident of the Santa Cruz constituency in north Goa, approached the high court complaining that their names were omitted from the draft roll even though they had submitted Form 8 (for change of address). Salgaonkar also refused to fill Form 6, saying doing so would amount to filing a false declaration since he was neither a first-time voter nor shifted to another constituency. “We have tried to point out that Form 8 cannot be just left out of the loop. My client’s Form 8 was rejected on the last date of deciding the objections. So, my client had no chance to file an [appeal] against rejection of Form 8,” Rodrigues told the high court during the arguments. Their names were also missing in the final roll that came out on February 21.
“We allow the petition and order the restoration of the names within ten days,” a bench of justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar said on Thursday. The existing roll serves only as a reference base,” said the ECI lawyer, arguing that as the roll is being prepared afresh, a name missing from the draft roll does not technically mean it has been “deleted”.
