Supreme Court steps in over Delhi voter roll dispute

UPDATE - follow-up to Delhi SIR case: Supreme Court assures to 'take care of' EC move to restore deleted voters as fresh voters: The Supreme Court of India agreed to step in over a dispute concerning voters deleted from Delhi's electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision, known as the SIR. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant brought forward the hearing date to October 28 after advocates pointed out that the original listing date of October 30 matched the final deadline for filing claims and objections.

The Voter Form Dispute

Advocates Prashant Bhushan and Neha Rathi, representing petitioners Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri, told the court that deleted voters seeking to rejoin the voter list are forced to use Form 6. This statutory form requires an applicant to state they are joining the electoral roll for the first time. Because these individuals were previously registered voters, the petition argues this requirement forces them to make a false declaration. According to the application, making this statement exposes citizens to potential punishment under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which carries a penalty of up to one year in imprisonment, a fine, or both.

Scale of Deletions

During the enumeration phase of the Delhi revision, 4,756,722 electors were left off the draft electoral roll under the ASDD category, which stands for Absent, Shifted, Dead or Duplicate. This total accounts for 32.78 percent of all voters who existed before the revision started. Petitioners noted that an additional declaration form introduced in guidelines lacks proper legal backing. Mr. Bhushan submitted that the Election Commission should either permit these voters to file Form 8 meant for shifted voters or create a new form entirely.

Context

The Supreme Court's intervention highlights ongoing legal battles over the integrity and rules of voter list revisions conducted by election authorities. Electoral rolls form the foundational basis of democratic participation, making the rules governing how citizens restore their voting rights a matter of intense legal scrutiny.