- Bombay HC orders ECI to restore six deleted Goa voters.
- Court refused to await Supreme Court verdict on revision.
- ECI criticized for software issues during voter list revision.
Goa SIR Row: The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to add back names of six deleted voters who were removed from the final voter list after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll. The bench refused to halt the order until the Supreme Court's final verdict on the revision process, asking the poll body to add the names back upon verification within 10 days.
What High Court Said?
While hearing the petitions filed by the deleted voters, the High Court asserted that the names were deleted during the revision process, suggesting the Election Commission to approach the Supreme Court if they sought stay. Earlier during the previous hearings, the bench had also criticized the limitations of the software introduced by the poll body during the SIR.
"We have allowed petition. We have also rejected the prayer to keep this petition pending till Supreme Court decides. We issue mandamus and direct the officer to include names of petitioners after confirming residence within 10 days," the Court said, reported Bar and Bench.
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Petitioner Challenges Deletions
Earlier, petitioner Paresh Salgaonkar stated that he was asked to fill the form 6 after his application through form 8 was rejected. His family had shifted the house within the same constituency a few years ago, leading to issues in verification. The petitioner had pointed out that form 6 is for the first time voters, adding that they were asked to do so due to the issues in software.
"That's a problem with your software. Can you imagine what will happen, how many voters you will lose out like this? How can you insist on someone filling a Form 6? Why is Form 8 there, then?" the bench asked the poll body during the hearing.
In its response, the Election Commission stated that the software did not allow Form 8 to be processed during the enumeration phase, adding that the concerned individuals were asked to fill Form 6, but they refused. However, the court emphasized that the poll body cannot force the voters to fill Form 6, further raising question on the relevance of Form 8.