PANAJI: In an important decision, the Bombay high court on Thursday directed the ECI to restore in the electoral rolls the names of six family members from St Cruz that were deleted during the Special intensive revision (SIR).The division bench of Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar directed the electoral registration officer (ERO) to include their names in the electoral rolls within ten days, after confirming their address.The HC rejected the argument of ECI made earlier to keep the petition pending as SIR matters are being heard by the Supreme Court.The HC said matters before SC challenge the SIR whereas the present pettion doesn’t involve a challenge to the SIR.The HC rejected the plea of ECI to stay its order for two weeks to approach the SC. The HC rejected the plea as its order “pertains to inclusion of voters in the electoral rolls”.The Hc passed the order in a petition filed by Paresh Salgaonkar and his family of five whose names were deleted despite them submitting Form 8 for change of address, to a different part within the same assembly constituency during SIR.They went to High Court stating their names were illegally removed without issuing them any prior notice or affording them an opportunity of being heard and stated that election authorities were legally bound to process their request under Form 8.Election authorities however contended that their names were deleted because the system didnt allow processing of Form 8 during the SIR and because they hadn’t filled in the enumeration form.
