Bombay HC orders restoration of family members' names deleted from Goa electoral rolls during SIR

The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to restore the names of a Goa resident and five members of his family in the electoral rolls after they were deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

The Goa bench of the high court, comprising Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar, issued the direction while hearing a petition filed by Paresh Salgaonkar and his family members, residents of the Santa Cruz Assembly constituency.

The petitioners had challenged the deletion of their names after the ECI rejected their Form 8 application seeking a change of address.

Advocate Vivek Rodrigues, who represented the family, told reporters that the court had directed the ECI to restore their names to the electoral rolls within 10 days.

Rodrigues said Salgaonkar had been enrolled as a voter and had exercised his franchise since 1995. However, his name was deleted after he shifted residence, despite submitting Form 8 for the address change.

The lawyer said Salgaonkar and his five family members were not allowed to remain on the electoral rolls. Their appeals before the ECI were rejected, following which they approached the high court.

After the order, advocate Gaurish Agni, appearing for the ECI, sought a stay on the directions pending a challenge before the Supreme Court.

The bench rejected the request, observing that the directions concerned the inclusion of the petitioners' names in the electoral rolls.

"We decline to stay the directions given in this order since they pertain to the inclusion of petitioners as voters in the voting roll," the court said.

"The request is therefore rejected," it added.

Salgaonkar and his family members filed the writ petition in September, with hearings beginning on 28 September.