Page No.# 1/ vs Union Of India And 9 Ors on 9 March, 2026

Author: Manish Choudhury

Bench: Manish Choudhury

                                                                  Page No.# 1/10

GAHC010044692026




                                                           2026:GAU-AS:3527

                      THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
  (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)

                        Case No. : WP(C)/1369/2026

         KADER ALI AND 4 ORS
         S/O- JAYNAL@JAYANAL ALI, VILL- 177, SONAPUR KACHUTALI (PART),
         DIST- KAMRUP(), ASSAM.

         2: JAYNAL@JAYANAL ALI
          S/O-AINAL
         VILL- SONAPUR KACHUTALI (PART)
          DIST- KAMRUP(M)
         ASSAM.

         3: JAMIRAN NESSA
          C/O-JAYNAL HAQUE VILL- 177
          SONAPUR KACHUTALI PART DIST- KAMRUP M
         ASSAM.

         4: HUSSAIN ALI
          S/O- JAYANAL HAQUE VILL- SONAPUR KACHUTALI PART DIST-
         KAMRUPM
         ASSAM.

         5: RASHIDA BEGUM
          C/O- JAYNAL HOQUE VILL- 177
          SONAPUR 1 NO KACHUTALIDIST- KAMRUP M
         ASSAM

         VERSUS

         UNION OF INDIA AND 9 ORS
         TO BE REPRESENTATED BY ITS SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF LAW AND
         JUSTICE, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, NEW DELHI- 110001

         2:THE ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA
          REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY
          NIRVACHAN SADAN
                                                                       Page No.# 2/10

             ASHOKA ROAD
             NEW DELHI- 110001.

            3:THE STATE OF ASSAM
            TO BE REPRESENTED BY THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY TO THE
            GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM
             HOME AND POLITICAL DEPARTMENT
             DISPUR
             GUWAHATI-781006

            4:THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER ASSAM
             OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER
            ASSAM
             DISPUR
             GUWAHATI- 781006

            5:THE DISTRICT ELECTION OFFICER
             KAMRUP(M) DISTRICT
             GUWAHATI
            ASSAM.

            6:THE ELECTORAL REGISTRATION OFFICER
             CONCERNED ASSEMBLY CONSTITUENCY
             KAMRUP(M) DISTRICT
            ASSAM.

            7:THE CIRCLE OFFICER
             SONAPUR REVENUE CIRCLE
             KAMRUP(M)
            ASSAM.

            8:THE DISTRICT COMMISSIONER
             KAMRUP(M)
            ASSAM

            9:COMMISSIONER OF POLICE
             KAMRUP(M)
            ASSAM

            10:OFFICER IN CHARGE
             SONAPUR POLICE STATION
             KAMRUP(M)
            ASSAM

Advocate for the Petitioner   : MR. A R BHUYAN, MR N Z CHOUDHURY,S LASKAR

Advocate for the Respondent : DY.S.G.I., SC, ECI,GA, ASSAM

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BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY

JUDGMENT & ORDER

09.03.2026

Heard Mr. A.R. Bhuyan, learned counsel for the petitioners; Ms. A. Gayan, learned Central Government Counsel [CGC] for the respondent no. 1; Mr. A.I. Ali, learned Standing Counsel, Election Commission of India [ECI] for the respondent nos. 2, 4, 5 & 6; and Mr. S.R. Baruah, learned Junior Government Advocate, Assam for the respondent nos. 3, 7, 8, 9 & 10.

2. The petitioners, five in nos., have joined together to institute the present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India stating that they have a common cause of action to espouse.

3. The petitioners have stated that they are members of the same family and for a long period of time, they have been casting their votes in both State Legislative Assembly ElectionS and/or Parliamentary ElectionS by virtue of enrolment of their names as voters in the electoral rolls. The petitioners have claimed that all of them had casted votes in the previous elections to the State Legislative Assembly and/or Parliament as the voters from No. 34 Dimoria [SC] Legislative Assembly Constituency [LAC], District - Kamrup [M], Assam. The petitioners were issued e-Electors Photo Identity Cards [e-EPICs] and they bear e-EPIC nos. - DZN2660642, DZN2660620, DZN2660631, DZN3843026 and DZN2660642 - respectively.

4. Mr. Bhuyan, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners has submitted that the petitioners have come to learn that in the electoral rolls published after the recent exercise of special revision initiated by the Election Commission of India, their names are not included in the electoral rolls. Mr. Bhuyan has contended that in order to delete the name of a voter whose name was included in the previous electoral roll, such a person must be given a prior opportunity of being heard. But none of the petitioners was afforded any prior opportunity of Page No.# 4/10

being heard. Mr. Bhuyan has further submitted that the deletion of the names of the petitioners is perhaps attributable to an eviction drive carried out in and around the area where the petitioners have been residing for a long period of time exercising their right to vote. The respondent authorities in the State Government had carried out an eviction drive in and around Sonapur area on the ground that the area comes under Chapter X of the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886 ['the ALRR, 1886', for short]. As there is restriction / prohibition for acquiring status of landowner in Tribal Block / Tribal Belt declared under Chapter X of the ALRR, 1886 confining the land ownership to specific category of persons, the petitioners were unjustifiably taken within the purview of the eviction drive. A number of litigation ensued thereafter. Lastly, the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Contempt Petition [Civil] no. 44449/2024, by an Order dated 30.09.2024, directed the parties to maintain the status, as on that date. Thereafter, by virtue of the said status quo order, the petitioners are still continuing to reside in the addresses mentioned in their respective e-EPIC, that is, within the territorial limits of No. 34 Dimoria [SC] LAC. He has, thus, contended that the respondent authorities have acted illegally and arbitrarily to delete the names of the petitioners from the electoral rolls.

5. Mr. Ali, learned Standing Counsel, ECI has submitted that ordinarily, prior to deletion of any names of a person from electoral roll, such a person is to be given a prior opportunity of being heard and any deletion of name can only be made after proper verification of facts. He has submitted that the petitioners have alleged that no prior and reasonable opportunity of being heard was given to them prior to deletion of their names from the electoral rolls. Assuming such contention of the petitioner is correct, then the petitioners have a statutory remedy of filing an application under Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 ['the R.P. Act, 1950', for short] and thereafter, appeals under Section 24 of the R.P. Act, 1950. Instead of availing such statutory remedy, the petitioners have directly approached this Court by way of the present writ petition. He has contended that since the matter of eligibility of the petitioners to be enrolled or continued as voters would require determination of certain factual questions, the present writ petition is not maintainable.

6. As per sub-section [3] of Section 21 of the R.P. Act, 1950, which is with a non-

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obstante clause, the Election Commission may at any time, for reasons to be recorded, direct a special revision of the electoral roll for any constituency or part of a constituency in such manner as it may think fit. By a Notification dated 17.11.2025, the Election Commission of India had directed a special revision in exercise of the powers under Section 21 of the R.P. Act, 1950 with reference to 01.01.2026 as the qualifying date in the State of Assam.

7. As the provisions of Section 22, Section 23 and Section 24 of the R.P. Act, 1950 are of relevance, they are reproduced herein for ready reference :-

22. Correction of entries in electoral rolls. -- If the electoral registration officer for a constituency, on application made to him or on his own motion, is satisfied after such inquiry as he thinks fit, that any entry in the electoral roll of the constituency -

      [a]     is erroneous or defective in any particular,

      [b]     should be transposed to another place in the roll on the ground that the person

concerned has changed his place of ordinary residence within the constituency, or

[c] should be deleted on the ground that the person concerned is dead or has ceased to be ordinarily resident in the constituency or is otherwise not entitled to be registered in that roll,

the electoral registration officer shall, subject to such general or special directions, if any, as may be given by the Election Commission in this behalf, amend, transpose or delete the entry after proper verification of facts in such manner as may be prescribed :

Provided that before taking any action on any ground under clause [a] or clause [b] or any action under clause [c] on the ground that the person concerned has ceased to be ordinarily resident in the constituency or that he is otherwise not entitled to be registered in the electoral roll of that constituency, the electoral registration officer shall give the person concerned a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of the action proposed to be taken in relation to him after proper verification of facts in such manner as may be prescribed.

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23. Inclusion of names in electoral rolls. --

[1] Any person whose name is not included in the electoral roll of a constituency may apply to the electoral registration officer for the inclusion of his name in that roll.

[2] The electoral registration officer shall, if satisfied that the applicant is entitled to be registered in the electoral roll, direct his name to be included therein after proper verification of facts in such manner as may be prescribed :

Provided that if the applicant is registered in the electoral roll of any other constituency, the electoral registration officer shall inform the electoral registration officer of that other constituency and that officer shall, on receipt of the information, strike off the applicant's name from that roll.

[3] No amendment, transposition or deletion of any entry shall be made under Section 22 and no direction for the inclusion of a name in the electoral roll of a constituency shall be given under this section, after the last date for making nominations for an election in that constituency or in the parliamentary constituency within which that constituency is comprised and before the completion of that election.

[4] The electoral registration office may for the purpose of establishing the identify of any person require that such person may furnish the Aadhaar number given by the Unique Identification Authority of India as per the provisions of the Aadhaar [Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services] Act, 2016 [18 of 2016] :

Provided that the electoral registration officer may also require the Aadhaar number from persons already included in the electoral roll for the purpose of authentication of entries in electoral roll and to identify registration of name of the same person in the electoral roll of Page No.# 7/10

more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency.

[5] Every person whose name is included in the electoral roll may intimate his Aadhaar number to such authority in such form and manner as may be prescribed, on or before a date to be notified by the Central government in the Official Gazette.

[6] No application for inclusion of name in the electoral roll shall be denied and no entries in the electoral roll shall be deleted for inability of an individual to furnish or intimate Aadhaar number due to such sufficient cause as may be prescribed :

Provided that such individual may be allowed to furnish such other alternate documents as may be prescribed.

24. Appeals.-- An appeal shall lie within such time and in such manner as may be prescribed --

[a] to the district magistrate or additional district magistrate or executive magistrate or district collector or an office of equivalent rank, from any order of the electoral Registration Officer under Section 22 or Section 23.

[b] to the chief electoral officer, from any order of the district magistrate or the additional district magistrate under clause [a].

8. As per the provisions contained in Section 22, if any deletion of a person's name from the electoral roll is to be made on the grounds mentioned in clause [a], clause [b] and clause [c] by the jurisdictional Electoral Registration Officer, then such deletion can only be made only after giving the person concerned a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of the action proposed [that is, deletion] to be taken in relation to him, that too, after proper verification of facts in such manner as may be prescribed. As per Section 2[h] of the R.P. Act, Page No.# 8/10

1950, 'prescribed' means prescribed by rules made under the R.P. Act, 1950.

10. As per the provisions of Section 23, any person whose name is not included in the electoral roll of a constituency may apply to the Electoral Registration Officer for the inclusion of his name in that roll. The Electoral Registration Officer shall, if satisfied that the applicant is entitled to be registered in the electoral roll, direct his name to be included therein after proper verification of facts in such manner as may be. No direction for the inclusion of a name in the electoral roll of a constituency shall be given under Section 23, after the last date for making nominations for an election in that constituency or in the parliamentary constituency within which that constituency is comprised and before the completion of that election.

11. In the case in hand, the Legislative Assembly / Parliamentary election in the State of Assam has not been declared till date. As such, there is no question of expiry of the last date for making nomination for any election in No. 34 Dimoria [SC] LAC, District - Kamrup [M], Assam. Therefore, it is within the right of the petitioners to make an application under Section 23 for inclusion of their names in the electoral roll before the jurisdictional Electoral Registration Officer as, according to the petitioners, their names were unjustifiably deleted from the electoral roll without following the procedure prescribed in Section 22.

12. The Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 ['the Registration Rules', for short] is framed under the R.P. Act, 1950. Rule 26 of the Registration Rules has provided for correction of entries and inclusion of names in electoral rolls. Sub-rule [1] of Rule 26 has prescribed for the forms for an application under sub-section [1] of Section 23. As per sub-rule [3] of Rule 26, the Registration Officer shall, immediately on receipt of such application, direct that one copy thereof be pasted in some conspicuous place in his office together with a notice inviting objections within a period of seven days from the date of such posting. A mandate is contained in sub-rule [4] of Rule 26 to the effect that the Registration Officer shall, as soon as may be after the expiry of the period specified in sub-rule [3], consider the application and objections thereto, if any, received by him and shall, if satisfied, direct the inclusion, deletion, correction or transposition of entries in the roll, as may be necessary. A mandate is also Page No.# 9/10

provided to the effect that when an application is rejected by the Registration Officer, he shall record in writing a brief statement of his reasons for such rejection.

13. Section 24 of the R.P. Act, 1950 has provided for appeals against any order passed by the jurisdictional Electoral Registration Officer under Section 23 of the R.P. Act, 1950. A first appeal would lie to the District Magistrate or Additional District Magistrate or Executive Magistrate and the District Collector or an office of equivalent rank from and order of the Electoral Registration Officer under Section 23. A second appeal would lie to the Chief Electoral Officer from any order of the District Magistrate or the Additional District Magistrate.

14. From the afore-stated statutory provisions, it is evident that if the petitioners are aggrieved by the deletion of their names from the electoral roll of No. 34 Dimoria [SC] LAC, District - Kamrup [M], Assam, the petitioners have the statutory remedy of filing an application under Section 23[1] of the R.P. Act, 1950 at first. The jurisdictional Electoral Registration Officer is obligated to pass an order on such application within the prescribed time limit either allowing the application for inclusion or rejecting the application. If any application is to be rejected, then the Electoral Registration Officer shall have to record in writing a brief statement of his reasons for such rejection. If in the event application[s] of the petitioner[s] is/are rejected, then the petitioner[s] has/have the statutory remedy of filing appeals under Section 24 of the R.P. Act, 1950.

15. Mr. Bhuyan, learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that the petitioners have all the supporting documents to support their claim that their names have been arbitrarily deleted from the electoral rolls published for No. 34 Dimoria [SC] LAC, District - Kamrup [M], Assam and the petitioners are in a position to file such an application under Section 23[1] of the R.P. Act, 1950 within a period of one week from today.

16. In view of presence of such alternative, adequate, efficacious remedy, this Court is of the considered view that the writ petition is not to be entertained at this stage, reserving the liberty to the petitioners to avail the afore-stated remedies as expeditiously. The writ petition is therefore, not entertained, with the following observations.

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17. It is observed that if the petitioners submit their application[s] under Section 23[1] of the R.P. Act, 1950 within the period as stated by the learned counsel for the petitioners, the jurisdictional Electoral Registration Officer shall consider such application[s] in terms of the mandate contained in Section 23 of the R.P. Act, 1950 read with Rule 26 of the Registration Rules so as that the application[s] is/are considered within the statutory time limit. If after the decision of the jurisdictional Electoral Registration Officer the petitioners find themselves aggrieved in any manner, the petitioners would be at liberty to avail the statutory remedy under Section 24 of the R.P. Act, 1950.

JUDGE

Comparing Assistant