Every Resident Has Right To Participate: Gujarat High Court Orders Inclusion In Electoral List Of Man Whose Name Was Deleted During SIR
The Gujarat High Court directed the inclusion of the litigant's name in the electoral list after noting that his application was accepted by the Electoral Registration Officer.
Justice N.S. Sanjay Gowda, Justice J. L. Odedra, Gujarat High Court
The Gujarat High Court has granted relief to a man whose name was deleted from the electoral rolls of the Legislative Assembly during the course of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).The High Court directed the inclusion of his name in the electoral list after noting that his application for inclusion was accepted by the Electoral Registration Officer.
The petitioner had approached the High Court challenging an endorsement rejecting his request to include his name in the electoral roll.
The Division Bench of Justice N.S. Sanjay Gowda and Justice J. L. Odedra held, “It is to be borne in mind that every resident of the local self-government has a right to participate in the electoral process and the only condition is that he should be on the electoral roll. The manner in which the electoral roll is to be operated, no-doubt is governed by the rules. However, it is to be stated here that once the electoral roll of the Assembly Constituency is corrected, the benefit of the same should be given to the petitioner by incorporating his name in the final list published under the Rules, 1994.”
Advocate Kirtan H Mistry represented the Petitioner, while Advocate Aishvarya represented the Respondent.
Factual Background
The petitioner's name was included in the electoral roll of the Legislative Assembly Constituency in the year 2021. However, his name came to be deleted during the course of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls of the Legislative Assembly as he had shifted his residence. The petitioner made an application to include his name. The Chief Electoral Officer published an electoral roll in which the name of the petitioner was not found. The reason for the non-inclusion was that the petitioner was not available when the enumerating officer visited his residence, and he had already shifted his residence. On March 3, 2026 the application filed by the petitioner for inclusion of his name in the electoral roll in the Legislative Assembly was accepted by the Electoral Registration Officer under the authority empowered under the RP Act, 1950. Thus, the name of the petitioner was ordered to be included in the electoral roll of the Legislative Assembly Constituency.
Though the application of the petitioner to include his name was accepted, his name was not found in the list of voters, which was published by the Election Commission of India. The authority under the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation (Registration of Electoral Votes) Rules, 199 (Rules, 1994,) did not include the name of the petitioner since Rule 4 stated that the basis for the electoral roll would be the electoral roll of the Assembly Constituency. The petitioner pursued the officer under the Rules, 1994, to incorporate his name since his request to be included in the Assembly Constituency electoral roll had been accepted by the concerned officer. The petitioner approached the High Court challenging the authority’s refusal to incorporate his name by placing reliance on sub-Rule (4) of Rule 6 of the Rules, 1994.
Reasoning
Considering that the name of the petitioner was ordered to be included in the electoral roll of the Legislative Assembly Constituency, notwithstanding the fact that the ultimate publication was scheduled on April 11, 2026, the Bench found it appropriate to direct the authorities to consider his name as having been included by virtue of the order of the Electoral Registration Officer and permit him to participate in the election, which is scheduled on April 26, 2026.
“Secondly, by virtue of the order dated 3.3.2026, the name of the petitioner would become a part of the electoral rolls and formal publication of this list, which is scheduled on 10.4.2026, cannot result in denial of the right of the petitioner to participate in the electoral process”, it stated.
Thus, the Bench directed the concerned authorities to insert the name of the petitioner which would formally be reflected in the electoral list scheduled to be published on April 10, 2026.
Cause Title: Jayesh Batukbhai Patel(Vanani) v. State of Gujarat (Neutral Citation: 2026:GUJHC:24341-DB)
Appearance
Petitioner: Advocate Kirtan H Mistry
Respondent: Advocates Aishvarya, G H Virk, Addl. Govt. Pleader Vaishnavi Verma, Advocate Sahil M Shah