State Election Commission Can't Delete Voter's Name From Municipal Roll, Can Only Replicate Assembly List: Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court has said that State Election Commission does not exercise any independent right over inclusion or deletion of names from its electoral rolls, and it only is empowered to replicate the electoral roll of the Assembly constituency

In doing so, it granted relief to a woman whose request for inclusion in the roll to participate in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation elections was earlier denied despite acceptance of her inclusion application, on the ground that her application was allowed after publication of the preliminary list. 

A division bench of Justice NS Sanjay Gowda and Justice JL Odedra in its order said:

"The argument of the State Election Commission that the name of the petitioner was only included after the publication of the preliminary list on 23.03.2026 and the petitioner cannot seek for inclusion is untenable and is of no consequence. Basically the State Election Commission is tasked with replicating the electoral roll of the Assembly constituency. The State Election Commission does not exercise any independent right in the matter of inclusion or deletion from its electoral rolls, and it only is empowered to replicate the electoral roll of the Assembly constituency".

The court was hearing a woman's plea seeking a direction to the State Election Commission among others to include her name in the  electoral roll of Ward No. 4, i.e., Sabarmati, to enable her to participate in the ensuing elections of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.

The name of the petitioner was not found in the electoral rolls of the Legislative Assembly constituency, which is the basis for the preparation of the electoral roll of the Municipal Corporation. Since her name was not found in this list, she made an application for inclusion of her name on 23.03.2026.

The list was revised and as it stood on 17.02.2026, was considered to be the basis for preparation of the preliminary list under the rules framed by the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations (Registration of Voters) Rules, 1994. This preliminary list was published on 23.03.2026.

As her name was not available in the Legislative Assembly constituency as on 17.02.2026, it was also not found in the electoral roll prepared by the Municipal Corporation in accordance with the aforementioned rules.

"It is also not in dispute that the application that the petitioner had filed for inclusion of her name in the electoral roll of the Legislative Assembly constituency on 23.03.2026 was allowed on 01.04.2026. The legal effect of this is that the name of the petitioner is deemed to be in the electoral rolls of the Legislative Assembly constituency," the court said.

The court said that since the basis for the creation of an electoral roll for the Municipal Corporation is based on the electoral roll of the Assembly constituency, on inclusion of the name in the Assembly constituency, the petitioner becomes entitled to vote and participate in the electoral process.

"It is to be noticed here that the application filed by her for inclusion was allowed before the last date fixed for filing of nominations. It may also be further pertinent to state here that the application was filed on 23.03.2026, i.e., prior to the period of 10 days prescribed under the rules mentioned above. In our view, therefore, the petitioner has made out a case to have her name included in the electoral roll for Ward No. 4, Sabarmati, and as a consequence, she would also be entitled to participate in the electoral process," the court said. 

The petition was allowed. 

Case title: VARSHA MUKESHBHAI KATARA v/s THE STATE ELECTION COMMISSION THROUGH SECRETARY & ORS.

R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 5261 of 2026

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