Senior advocate Arvind P. Datar appeared before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana on behalf of petitioner Arun Anandgiri. Datar told the court that Maharashtra has around 9 crore voters and claimed that approximately 33% of them had been removed from the electoral rolls.
He further claimed that nearly 40% of voters’ names were missing from the lists in Mumbai and Pune. According to the petitioner’s counsel, people whose names have been deleted are being asked to submit Form 6 to have their names included in the electoral rolls again.
Around 3 Crore Names Allegedly Deleted From Draft Electoral Rolls
During the hearing, Datar stated that Maharashtra had approximately 9 crore voters and that nearly 3 crore names had been deleted following the publication of the draft electoral rolls. He also told the court that a large number of people had received notices concerning logical discrepancies.
The petition challenges the SIR process and raises concerns about the impact of the exercise on voters whose names have been excluded from the draft lists. The petitioner’s counsel argued that the process for restoring deleted names could create difficulties for people who had previously been registered and had exercised their voting rights.
Questions Raised Over Form 6 for Previously Registered Voters
Datar questioned the requirement for voters whose names have been removed from the electoral rolls to fill out Form 6 for re-registration. He argued that Form 6 is primarily intended for the registration of new voters and that asking people who have voted previously to use the same form is inappropriate.
He also highlighted that the deadline for submitting applications to have names included in the electoral rolls is approaching, raising concerns about whether affected voters would have sufficient time to complete the process.
The petitioner urged the Supreme Court to consider the difficulties faced by voters seeking to restore their names before the electoral rolls are finalised.
Redevelopment Projects in Mumbai and Pune Raise Concerns
The petitioner’s counsel also referred to approximately 3,500 redevelopment projects underway in Mumbai and Pune. He argued that the demolition of old housing colonies is forcing thousands of residents to relocate, potentially creating problems related to addresses and other personal information during the electoral roll revision process.
According to the arguments presented, these changes could put residents at risk of having their names deleted from the voter lists because of discrepancies in their residential details.
The petition had previously raised concerns that a substantial number of voters in Mumbai and Pune were missing from the electoral rolls. The latest submissions brought the potential impact of redevelopment-related displacement into focus.
CJI Surya Kant Signals Court May Consider Extending Deadline
The petitioner requested the Supreme Court to stay the process of finalising the electoral rolls until the matter is heard. The court did not order an extension of the deadline at this stage but indicated that appropriate directions could be considered if necessary.
Chief Justice Surya Kant said the court would consider extending the deadline if there were people who had not yet been able to submit their documents. The observations came as the petitioner raised concerns about the limited time available to affected voters to seek the inclusion of their names.
The next hearing has been scheduled for November 5, while publication of the final electoral rolls is scheduled for November 6.
Maharashtra SIR Draft Electoral Roll Data
The petition comes after the first draft electoral rolls prepared under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR)-2026 exercise excluded more than 2 crore names, according to the information provided in the case background.
The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra released the draft electoral rolls for all 288 Assembly constituencies on August 31, 2026. Before the SIR exercise began, Maharashtra had a total of 9,78,54,049 voters.
The revised draft electoral rolls included 7,71,65,562 voters, accounting for 78.86% of the previous electorate.
With the Supreme Court seeking responses from the concerned authorities and the next hearing scheduled just one day before the announced publication of the final electoral rolls, the case raises questions about the process for restoring deleted names and the time available to affected voters to complete the required formalities.
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