West Bengal SIR | New Voters Included By Form 6 After Qualifying Date Won't Get Right To Vote : Justice Bagchi

During the hearing of the West Bengal Special Intensive Revision (SIR) matter, Justice Joymalya Bagchi of the Supreme Court orally commented that the inclusion of a person in the electoral roll through Form 6 (registration form for new voter) will not give them a right to vote, if such inclusion is after the 'qualifying date' notifed by the Election Commission.

As per Section 14(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the qualifying date for preparation or revision of the electoral roll is the 1st day of January, April, July, and October of the year, with reference to which a person must have attained the age of eighteen years to be eligible for registration as an elector.

Justice Bagchi distinguished between a person's right to get enrolled in the electoral roll in terms of Form 6 vis-a-vis their right to vote as per the electoral rolls that go for polls as per the qualifying date announced by the Election Commission of India.

Justice Bagchi further said that it is because of the 'qualifying date' cut-off that the Court, in its order passed on February 24, clarified that the supplementary final lists published will be deemed to be part of the first final list published on February 28.

"There are differences. One is an amendment of the electoral roll, another is the electoral roll which goes for polls. The electoral roll which goes for polls is as per the qualifying date, which is announced by the ECI. That is why we had to pass the order that supplementary list [...] That does not take away an individual's right to [include] himself under Form 6 but his inclusion will not give him the right to vote", said Justice Bagchi.

The matter was listed before a bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi which, after hearing the parties, allowed the Appellate Tribunals hearing appeals against exclusions from West Bengal's electoral rolls to entertain fresh documents subject to verification.

During the hearing, Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Kalyan Banerjee (for petitioners) alleged that substantial numbers of Form 6 (Application Form for New Voters) were being deposited while adjudication of claims/objections is going on. Banerjee, in particular, claimed that a notification has been issued by ECI on 27 March extending the time for filing of Form 6 and 30,000 Form 6 have been deposited by 1 person alone. The senior counsel further prayed that the details of Form 6 deposited with ECI be published booth-wise.

Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, for ECI, countered these submissions by asserting that if a person has a genuine right to be enrolled onto the electoral roll, that right cannot be thwarted. Further, if someone has a grievance, there is an option to raise objection in terms of Form 7.

This led Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, for petitioners, to contend, "But what is the qualifying date? There has to be a qualifying date under the statute. Now they have arbitrarily changed the date, opening the floodgates, against the statute".

The CJI commented that the petitioners' averments were only verbal submissions, and nothing had been placed on record. The CJI also suggested at one point that the issue be raised before the Appellate Tribunal.

Ultimately, as the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice stated in his letter to the Court that pending adjudications would likely be decided by April 7, the matter was posted on April 6.

Case Title: MOSTARI BANU Versus THE ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(C) No. 1089/2025 (and connected cases)

Also from the hearing - West Bengal SIR | Appellate Tribunals Can Entertain Fresh Documents After Verifying Genuineness : Supreme Court