‘Very perturbed’, draft electoral roll cannot be basis for deleting names without hearing: Bombay HC at Goa

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The draft roll under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) cannot be the basis for deletion of names from the voter list, the Bombay High Court has said, holding that administrative software systems cannot supersede statutory laws.

The Goa Bench of the HC also questioned the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the provisions empowering it to delete names without a hearing, saying it was “very perturbed by this”.

The Division Bench of Justice Amit S. Jamsandekar and Justice Valmiki Menezes was hearing a petition on Wednesday (September 30, 2026) filed by six members of a family over deletion of their names from the voter list.

Petitioners Paresh Salgaonkar and his family members told the Court that they had moved to a new house in the same Santa Cruz Assembly constituency and were instructed by the BLO (Booth Level Officer) to submit Form 8 for change of address.

At the time of processing these forms, they said, errors showed up since no record of their Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) was found, and as such, the only option available in the ERONET software was “reject”.