Bombay HC Slams Election Commission Over Deletion of 6 Family Members from Goa SIR Voter List
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The Bombay High Court has strongly pulled up the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) following the sudden deletion of names belonging to six members of a single Goan family during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Santa Cruz, Goa. Refusing to entertain software limitations as an excuse for disenfranchising legitimate citizens, the court firmly told poll authorities that administrative technicalities cannot override basic democratic voter rights.
The Form 8 vs Form 6 Dispute in Goa's Santa Cruz
The legal battle reached the High Court bench of Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar after petitioner Paresh Salgaonkar filed a plea challenging the deletion of his family's voting rights:
Address Change Ignored: The petitioner stated that his family had submitted statutory Form 8 during the ongoing SIR process after moving their residence within the same Santa Cruz constituency, only to find out later that their names had been completely struck off the voter list.
EC Cites Software Incapability: In its submission before the court, the Election Commission admitted that its operational system lacked the technical facility to process Form 8 during the enumeration phase of the SIR drive.
Forced Application of Form 6: Because the portal could not process Form 8 corrections, authorities subsequently directed the family to submit Form 6—which is strictly designated for first-time voter registrations—a request the family refused.
High Court Rejects ECI's System Glitch Defense
The division bench expressed sharp disapproval over the Election Commission's procedural handling, questioning why timely Form 8 submissions were rejected outright due to back-end software limitations.
Bench Questions Commission's Rationale: Rejecting the EC counsel's defense, the bench observed, "This is a problem with your software. Can you imagine what will happen, how many voters will be left out like this? How can you ask someone to fill out Form 6? Then why is there Form 8?"
Pre-Digital Statutory Rights: When the counsel argued that the family shifted residence eight years ago and bore the responsibility of informing authorities, the bench disagreed, noting that statutory Form 8 existed long before digital portals and the electronic age.
Clear Administrative Fault: The court made it clear that citizens cannot be made to suffer due to software inadequacies, declaring the entire episode an institutional failure on the part of the election authorities.
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