Maharashtra SIR Challenged In Bombay High Court; Pleas Seek Restoration Of Deleted Voters

News india Maharashtra SIR Challenged In Bombay High Court; Pleas Seek Restoration Of Deleted Voters

Last Updated:September 25, 2026, 09:50 IST

The petition alleges that the Election Commission exercised its powers in a manner contrary to previous Supreme Court judgments

Two writ petitions were filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Maharashtra, after The it was reported that two Election Commissioners had raised objections to several decisions taken by the poll panel.

The petitions, filed separately before the Bombay High Court and its Kolhapur circuit bench, seek a range of directions concerning the preparation and revision of electoral rolls, including disclosure of 14 decisions linked to the SIR process, restoration of voters whose names were deleted and greater transparency over the systems and methodology being used by the Election Commission. One of the pleas also seeks the constitution of an independent judicial committee to examine alleged data deletions and software-related restrictions during the ongoing SIR exercise.

The petitions come after a report by The Indian Express as per which Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections on multiple occasions over decisions taken by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The report said the objections covered issues including voter registration, deletion and restoration of names and access to the electoral-roll database.

One petition, filed by four Maharashtra residents and registered voters through advocate Asim Sarode before the Kolhapur bench, cites the Express report while alleging that the manner in which electoral-roll decisions were taken amounted to a “systematic erosion of constitutional norms".

The petitioners have sought the quashing of 14 administrative orders and modifications, disclosure of recorded dissents by the Election Commissioners and restoration of voters whose names were deleted during the SIR exercise. They have also sought a direction to put forthcoming Assembly elections on hold until “fresh, untainted, and legally compliant" electoral rolls are prepared and approved. The plea is likely to be mentioned before the court on September 28.

The petition further alleges that the Election Commission exercised its powers in a manner contrary to previous Supreme Court judgments and “detrimental to the democratic perspective and against the interest of the general public".

A separate petition filed by two Mumbai residents through advocate Hitendra Gandhi challenges aspects of the SIR process in Maharashtra, particularly the collection of documents during enumeration and the exclusion of voters based on their status in the electoral database. The petitioners have sought disclosure of the reasons and legal basis for conducting the SIR in Maharashtra, details of the methodology used for identifying voters under the Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate (ASDD) categories and specifications relating to the Election Commission’s ECINET system.

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