NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has dismissed a PIL claiming risk of disenfranchisement of the homeless due to the Election Commission's house-to-house enumeration methodology for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, noting that a mechanism was already in place for the inclusion of electors without an address.
A bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said the apprehension of petitioner Indu Prakash Singh's appeared to be without any basis.
It ruled that there was no "vacuum" in the existing mechanism, and the petitioner made "bald averments" on the exclusion of persons displaced due to demolition drives conducted in Delhi over the last several years.
"The extract of the Draft Electoral Roll clearly showing the category of homeless persons with their name, age, gender and photograph, and the house number as '0', clearly demonstrates that the ECI is already implementing the process of inclusion of the homeless persons in the Draft Electoral Roll as provided in the Manual during the SIR exercise," the bench said in the order dated August 19.
"Accordingly, none of the prayers sought in the present petition deserves to be granted.
As a result, the present petition is dismissed," the court ruled.
The court observed that if any elector is excluded from the electoral roll on account of demolition or relocation, he is entitled to fill up Form 6 issued under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
The Manual on Electoral Rolls clearly provides that once the details are provided by homeless persons, the BLO would visit the address given in Form 6 for more than one night to ascertain where the homeless person sleeps, it added.
The petition had stated that Delhi has around three lakh homeless persons and the ECI's house-to-house enumeration methodology for the SIR was a "structural barrier" for them.
"The ongoing SIR exercise in Delhi, initiated vide ECI Directive No. 23/2025-ERS (Vol.II) dated 14.05.2026, presupposes the ability of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to physically locate existing electors at their recorded addresses.
"Consequently, persons who are already homeless or are rendered homeless or displaced by demolitions are at risk of being systematically excluded in violation of their right to franchise, later resulting in even their citizenship being questioned," the PIL had said.
The ECI had submitted that there was already a provision for the homeless or pavement dwellers, who do not possess any documentary proof of ordinary residence, for their enrolment in the electoral roll.
