No inclusion in electoral roll allowed after nomination deadline per Section 23(3) of Representation of the People Act, 1950.

JUDGMENT :

G. ARUL MURUGAN, J.

1. The writ petition is filed seeking for a direction to the respondents to include the petitioner's name in the revised voter list and allow him to vote in the upcoming Tamilnadu Assembly Election to be conducted on 23.04.2026 in Chidhambaram Assembly Constituency.

2. It is the case of the petitioner that he is the resident of Ward No.8, North Street, Chidhambaram, having been issued a voter ID Card bearing No.HNK1766518. During the enumeration process under the Serious Intensive Revision (SIR), the petitioner had submitted the enumeration form and in the draft voter list published, the petitioner's name was found in Serial No.334 in the Chidhambaram Constituency on 19.12.2025. Further, even in the revised voter list issued on 23.02.2026, the petitioner's name found place in the electoral roll. However, in the revised final list issued on 01.04.2026, for no reason the name of the petitioner was deleted. Hence, the petitioner had come up with the present writ petition.

3. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner contended that, by deletion of the petitioner’s name from the voter list, the fundamental right guaranteed under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India is deprived. He further submitted that, due to the mistake committed by the respondents, the democratic right of the petitioner is impinged and taken away. He further submitted that when the petitioner's mother died in the month of February, her name continued to be in the electoral roll. But the name of the petitioner that was present in the draft list has been deleted in the final list, which has to be necessarily corrected by the respondents and the petitioner be allowed to vote in the upcoming election. He had taken recourse to the decision taken by the Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court in Jayesh Batukbhai Patel (Vanani) v. State of Gujarat & Ors.  2026 SCC OnLine Guj 1874.

4. Mr.Niranjan Rajagopalan, learned Standing Counsel appearing for the respondents argued that, whatever be the reasons for the deletion of the petitioner's name, when the name of the petitioner is not available in the final voter list published, there cannot be any inclusion of name in the electoral roll after the last date for making nominations for elections in that constituency.

5. By referring to Section 23(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the learned counsel submitted that the provision bars any amendment and no direction for inclusion of name in the electoral roll of a constituency shall be given after the last date for making nominations for an election in the respective constituency. When the election notification has already been issued and the last date for filing of the nomination had lapsed, the claim of the petitioner cannot be allowed at this stage and his name could be included only after the election process is over.

6. In support of his contention, he relied on the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of P.T. Rajan v. T.P.M. Sahir and Ors.  (2003) 8 SCC 498 and the Constitutional Bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Lakshmi Charan Sen v. A.K.M. Hassan Uzzaman,  (1985) 4 SCC 689.

7. Heard the rival submissions and considered the materials available on record.

8. The Representation of the People Act, 1950 deals with the allocation of seats and delimitation of constituencies for the purpose of election in the house of people and the legislatures of states. The voters’ qualifications, preparation of electoral rolls and manner of filling seats are also dealt with.

9. Section 21 of the Act deals with the preparation and revision of electoral rol