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Bombay HC Plea Challenges ECI Actions, Seeks Restoration of Deleted Maharashtra Voters
M
Moneycontrol•24-09-2026, 22:47
Bombay HC Plea Challenges ECI Actions, Seeks Restoration of Deleted Maharashtra Voters
- •A writ petition in the Kolhapur Bench of the Bombay High Court challenges 14 administrative actions by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
- •The petition alleges decisions were made despite objections from Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, seeking to quash these actions and restore voters deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Maharashtra.
- •Filed by four Maharashtra residents, the plea names the ECI, Gyanesh Kumar, Sandhu, Joshi, and the State Election Commission, Maharashtra, as respondents.
- •The petition cites issues including changes to Form 6 for new voter registration, centralized access to the electoral-roll database, software changes preventing ERO overrides, and alleged bulk deletion orders without full commission consultation.
- •It also refers to an internal audit report flagging 13 crore voter names with anomalies, which was allegedly sealed despite demands for transparency, and seeks an independent judicial committee to examine data deletions and software blockages.
Key Questions Answered
The writ petition before the Bombay High Court challenges 14 administrative actions by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, seeks the restoration of voters deleted during Maharashtra's Special Intensive Revision (SIR), and asks for a halt to the SIR process in the state.
The petition was filed by four Maharashtra residents—Prathamesh Gopal Gavankar, Gaurav Suryakant Nakharekar, Aadesh Shashikant Bhatkar, and Smitali Nilesh Narvekar—represented through advocate Asim Sarode and Associates.
The plea alleges that Form 6 was altered in July to require applicants to state if they or their ancestors existed in the last SIR roll, a change Sukhbir Singh Sandhu described as unauthorized and illegal without a rule amendment.
