SC seeks responses on plea challenging Maharashtra voter roll revision

• The Supreme Court sought responses from the Centre, Election Commission and others on a challenge to Maharashtra’s electoral roll revision

• The petitioner said voters temporarily displaced by redevelopment in Mumbai and Pune had been excluded as “person not found”

• The plea seeks a pause on the exercise and protection against deletions pending adjudication; the next hearing is on 5 November

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a petition challenging the special intensive revision (SIR) of Maharashtra’s electoral rolls, following concerns that voters temporarily displaced by redevelopment projects had been excluded.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued notices to the Centre, the Election Commission of India and other respondents. The matter will be heard next on 5 November.

The petition was filed by Arun Anandagiri, a chartered accountant and journalist.

Appearing for him, senior advocate Arvind Datar told the court that voters who had temporarily moved out of their homes during redevelopment in Mumbai and Pune were being categorised as “person not found” and removed from the draft rolls.

Datar submitted that around two crore of Maharashtra’s nearly 9.79 crore voters had been excluded. He also claimed that another 1.22 crore electors had been struck off under the category of “logical discrepancies”.

The petition seeks to keep the revision exercise in abeyance until the court decides the challenge. It also asks that no voter included in the pre-SIR electoral rolls be excluded or deleted during this period.

According to figures released by the state chief electoral officer’s office, 2,06,88,487 electors — 21.14 per cent of the state’s 9,78,54,049 registered voters — were excluded from the draft rolls because they could not be traced at their recorded addresses during the exercise.

The challenge places the treatment of temporarily relocated residents under judicial scrutiny, particularly those who have moved while their homes undergo redevelopment.

With PTI inputs