HC refuses to order review of voter lists for assembly polls

The Bombay High Court dismissed MLA Chandrakant Patil's petition to remove duplicate names from voter lists, citing procedural issues and ECI's existing mechanisms.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by MLA Chandrakant Patil for review of voters list to remove duplicate names in voter lists to rule out the possibility of bogus voting in the upcoming assembly elections.

HC refuses to order review of voter lists for assembly polls

Patil, who represented Muktainagar constituency in Jalgaon district, had approached the high court as the Election Commission of India did not take cognisance of his representations, seeking removal of names which appeared multiple times in voter lists and putting in place a mechanism to ensure that the voters whose names are already on the list are not allowed to register again.

He submitted that at least 43,276 names appeared in the voter lists of his assembly constituency multiple times. He added that on August 2, 2024, he had sent a representation to the ECI, complaining that people are being registered as new voters though their names were already on the list, purportedly to enable bogus voting.

The tehsildar, Muktainagar, who is in charge of the voter lists for the assembly segment, replied to the petition stating that the right to vote is a statutory one and such a right cannot be denied to any elector by merely filing a complaint. He added that the ECI has a very sturdy mechanism in place to ensure the right to vote is exercised by every eligible citizen.

The tehsildar also claimed that the details provided by Patil in his representations were inadequate to verify the claim that the names of 43,276 voters appeared multiple times in lists. He said unless the MLA provided separate Form 7 in each of these cases with photographs of the voters, the complaint cannot be verified.

The court noted that under the Electoral Rules, names of voters cannot be deleted by the ECI on its own, but it can be done only in case of complaints or objections, and such deletion could be done only on the basis of Form 7.

“Forms 7 and 8 received after the announcement of election are required to be kept separately and shall be taken up for disposal only after completion of election,” said the division bench of justice Vibha Kankanwadi and justice SG Chapalgaonkar.

The bench insisted each objection should be in Form 7, and if such procedure is not adhered to, no directions can be given to the ECI. “When the statutory authority has insisted for adherence of procedure/instructions, then writ of mandamus cannot be issued by taking note of the practical difficulty of the objector,” it said, adding that the insistence of the electoral registration officer for Form 7 was perfectly legal.