Goa High Court Questions Rejection of Voter Address Forms

The Bombay High Court at Goa questioned the Election Commission of India’s handling of address-change applications during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, asking whether Form 8 requests should be kept pending rather than automatically rejected when an elector’s name is missing from the draft roll. The court has not issued a final ruling in the case. The petition concerns Paresh Salgaonkar and family members from the Santa Cruz Assembly constituency. They said they moved to a new home within the constituency and, after being instructed by a booth-level officer, submitted Form 8, which is used to report a change of address. Their names were omitted from the draft roll, and they said their applications could not be processed because the system showed no record of their Electors Photo Identity Card details. According to the petitioners, officials told them their records had been deleted and directed them to apply using Form 6, which is generally used to seek fresh inclusion on the electoral roll. They argued they were existing voters seeking to update their address, rather than new applicants.