Delhi HC Dismisses PIL on Exclusion of Homeless Persons from Voter Rolls
The Delhi High Court has dismissed a public interest litigation alleging that homeless persons in the Capital risked being excluded from electoral rolls during the Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision exercise, holding that an existing mechanism already provides for their enrolment without a fixed address.
A Bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia stated that the apprehension raised by petitioner Indu Prakash Singh appeared to be without basis. The court noted that there was no vacuum in the existing system and observed that the petitioner had made bald averments regarding the exclusion of people displaced by demolition drives across Delhi.
In its August 19 order, the Bench pointed to extracts of the Draft Electoral Roll that listed homeless persons with their name, age, gender, photograph, and the house number recorded as '0'. The court said this demonstrated that the Election Commission is actively implementing the inclusion process provided in its manual during the revision exercise.
The court observed that any elector whose name is omitted due to demolition or relocation can submit Form 6 under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, to seek inclusion. Under the Electoral Rolls Manual, once a homeless person submits the necessary details, the Booth Level Officer is required to visit the location specified in Form 6 for more than one night to verify where the individual ordinarily sleeps.
The petition had claimed that Delhi is home to around three lakh homeless persons and argued that the house-to-house enumeration process created a structural barrier to their participation. It contended that the revision exercise presupposed locating electors at recorded addresses, putting displaced individuals and pavement dwellers at risk of disenfranchisement.
The Election Commission informed the court that specific provisions are already established to enrol homeless persons and pavement dwellers who lack documentary proof of ordinary residence.
