Goa High Court questions Election Commission over removal of six names from electoral rolls
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has questioned the Election Commission over the removal of six family members from the state's electoral rolls, asking what "glitch" led to their deletion. While hearing a petition filed by Paresh Salgaoncar and five family members, a division bench of Justices Amit S Jamsandekar and Valmiki Menezes on Wednesday observed that the draft roll cannot form the basis for deletion and that administrative software systems cannot supersede statutory laws.
The petitioners had moved to a new house within the same Santa Cruz Assembly constituency and were instructed by the Block Level Officer to submit Form 8 for change of address. However, errors were reflected in the system as no records of their Electors Photo Identity Cards were found, leaving only the "reject" option available in ERONET. The Assistant Electoral Registration Officer subsequently informed them that their EPICs had been deleted from the rolls, making their Form 8 applications unprocessable. The only recourse offered was Form 6, applicable to first-time electors, which the petitioners argued was inappropriate since they were existing voters seeking an address change.
The court emphasized that Form 6, 7, and 8 are specifically designed for different voter categories and cannot be rendered meaningless. Observing the potential scale of such errors, the court noted that "lakhs will go off the rolls" if such practices continue when people shift residence. The bench directed the Election Commission to address how the software system prevented acceptance of Form 8 applications.
