Maharashtra SIR: Bombay High Court Declines Oral Plea To Restrain ECI From Deleting Voters' Names, Says SC Seized Of Issue

The Bombay High Court on Monday (October 5) refused to pass orders staying deletion of names of any citizen from the voters list in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Maharashtra.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna said it will observe judicial propriety and follow the directive of the Supreme Court, which, it was informed, had in November last year, restrained all High Courts from entertaining petitions challenging the validity of the SIR or any other aspects related to the process.

"There are restraining orders already... No purpose will be served by a parallel litigation. Let the SC hear the matter first and we will consider it later," Chief Justice said.

On this, advocate Prakash Ambedkar appearing for the petitioner, urged the court to at least pass an order stating that no names must be deleted from the voters list, for the time being.

The judges turned down the said oral prayer, by observing, "No no no...we are not going to pass any such orders... We will follow judicial propriety."

The bench accordingly, adjourned the hearing for four weeks.

The judges were hearing a petition highlighting various flaws in the proper implementation of the SIR in Maharashtra. The petitions does not seek to stop the SIR exercise but instead, it seeks disclosure or production of the order and recorded reasons under which the SIR is being undertaken in Maharashtra, along with transparency regarding its methodology and legal basis.

"The petitioners do not seek to stop the SIR or to disturb this programme. The ECI may make a limited electoral assessment but cannot conclusively determine citizenship. Where the doubt remains, the matter must be referred to the competent authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the electoral consequence must abide by its decision," the petition states.

The petition also seeks safeguards against wrongful exclusion of eligible voters and restoration of deleted voter names.

It alleges that although the ECI's Maharashtra instructions do not permit collection of documents during enumeration, Booth Level Officers have allegedly been asking citizens to furnish "supporting documents" while receiving Enumeration Forms.

This petition concerns the lawful implementation in Maharashtra of the SIR. The petitioners do not seek to stop the SIR or to disturb this programme. The ECI may make a limited electoral assessment but cannot conclusively determine citizenship. Where the doubt remains, the matter must be referred to the competent authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the electoral consequence must abide by its decision. The limited relief sought is disclosure or production of the order and recorded reasons under which the SIR is being undertaken in Maharashtra, along with transparency regarding its methodology and legal basis with safeguards against wrongful exclusion of eligible voters- Gandhi's petition

The plea therefore seeks transparency regarding the methodology and legal basis of the SIR and safeguards to ensure that eligible voters are not wrongly excluded.