As Assembly elections and by-polls continue across states, courts in India are seeing a rise in individual cases challenging names deleted from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
The legal scrutiny comes at a politically sensitive time.
Supreme Court rejects Tamil Nadu-based person’s plea
The top court on Friday, April 10, rejected the petition of a person whose name got deleted from the electoral roll after the SIR exercise in Tamil Nadu. This came after the Election Commission opposed the request, stating that the challenge was belated, Live Law reported.
The plea, filed by C Geetha, was heard by a Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi.
While appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan mentioned in court that the deletion of Geetha’s name was unjustified as her name had remained on the electoral roll continuously since 2007. Further, it was stated that the petitioner possessed multiple identity documents demonstrating eligibility, which included a passport, Aadhaar card, and Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC).
Further, it was claimed that the person did not receive any prior notice regarding the removal of his name from the electoral roll.
Appearing for the Election Commission, senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu said the request had been made too late.
Later, the Bench refused to entertain the matter.
Twin cases from Gujarat
On Thursday, April 9, the Gujarat High Court ordered the State Election Commission to include the name of a person belonging to the Chharvada Assembly constituency in the electoral roll for the upcoming Vapi Municipal Corporation elections, which are scheduled for April 26. This came after the individual’s name was found to have been excluded from the list following the SIR exercise in the state.
According to The Indian Express, the division bench of justices NSS Gowda and JL Odedra heard the plea filed by Shashankkumar Mishra. The petitioner claimed that his name got deleted from the voter list for the Chharvada seat in December 2025.
On his request, it was later added to the preliminary electoral rolls of February 17, 2026.
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However, he mentioned that his name was later found to have been excluded from the electoral roll prepared for the Vapi Municipal Corporation.
Prior to this, the same Bench had on Tuesday, April 7, directed the State Election Commission to add the name of an Ahmedabad-based man after his name got deleted during the SIR exercise.
At that time, the high court set aside the April 4 order of the election officer, who refused to add the name of the petitioner to the upcoming rolls. In this matter, the petitioner was JB Patel.
SIR tribunal order in West Bengal
Recently, a special tribunal, which came up after a Supreme Court directive, had asked the electoral body to add the name of Mahatab Sheikh, Congress’s candidate from Farakka, to the voters’ list, The Times of India reported.
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The special tribunal had overturned the judicial officer’s decision to remove Sheikh’s name from the rolls. This came after the Supreme Court’s direction for an urgent hearing, since the deadline for filing nominations was Monday (April 6).
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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)
