Bombay HC tells Election Commission names cannot be deleted from rolls without a hearing

Published 1 Oct 2026, 09:38 UTC

A Goa family that filed a change of address was deleted from the roll during SIR. The court asked what in the law lets the Election Commission do that.

Reporting as of 1 October 2026, 9:10am IST.

A family in Santa Cruz, Goa, told the electoral system they had moved within the same constituency. The system deleted all six of them instead. On 29 and 30 September, the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) how that is allowed.

The family filed Form 8 and were deleted

The family filed Form 8, the form for a change of address. According to The Wire and ETV Bharat, the ERONET software would not process Form 8 during the SIR enumeration. The six members were then deleted from the roll.

The court's question went to the heart of that sequence.

The bench said the system cannot decide for the law

The bench said, as quoted by The Wire: "You have no business asking them to fill Form 6 because the system didn't allow Form 8." Form 6 is the form for new voters.

The court also said names cannot be removed without a hearing. "You cannot delete anybody without hearing. That's the law," it said. It asked the ECI what in the Act empowers it to delete names this way. ETV Bharat reported the court said it was "very perturbed by this", and that a draft roll cannot be the basis for deletion without a hearing.

Who is affected beyond one family

ETV Bharat reports the court flagged that lakhs of citizens could be at risk. We could not confirm how many other voters are affected nationwide, and neither outlet gives a count.

For a voter, the practical point is the order of events. Under the court's reasoning as reported, a deletion needs a hearing first, and a form the software rejects is not the voter's failure.

The two outlets stress different points

The Wire framed the hearing as the court condemning the ECI's handling of SIR, with the Form 6 and Form 8 exchange at its centre. ETV Bharat led on the principle: a draft roll cannot justify deletion without a hearing.

What the court has ordered so far

The reports we read carry oral observations only. We found no written order, no hearing date and no written ECI response. The Wire notes that an earlier directive to fix the restoration problem remains pending.

The next step to watch is the next hearing date, once it is listed.

This story was produced with AI assistance and reviewed, edited and verified by the reporter before publication.

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