‘Digital signature valid’: Gujarat HC directs poll body to include Ahmedabad man in electoral roll for civic polls
The Gujarat High Court order, the third such decision in three days, came in a case related to the SIR exercise, during which the Ahmedabad voter’s name had been deleted.
The Gujarat High Court considered a March 12 application, which consists of a "digital signature" as a valid acknowledgement. (Photo generated using AI)
The Gujarat High Court on Thursday directed election authorities to re-include an Ahmedabad-based man in the electoral roll for the upcoming Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) elections, allowing him to vote, after recognising a “digital signature” as a valid acknowledgement of his application.
The order, the third such decision in three days, came in a case related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise conducted by the Election Commission of India, during which the voter’s name had been deleted.
The Division Bench of Justice N S S Gowda and Justice J L Odedra was hearing a petition filed by Sanjay Gadhavi, challenging the April 6 order of the election authorities rejecting his request to reinstate him as a voter in the electoral roll for the AMC elections.
What Gujarat High Court said
The Gujarat High Court bench directed that the petitioner’s name should be included in the electoral roll to be published following the SIR activity. The revised SIR list is to be published by the State Election Commission (SEC) Friday.
Gadhvi approached the high court seeking inclusion of his name in the electoral roll of Ward No. 44 (Khokhara) to allow him to participate in the upcoming AMC elections, for which the final date of filing nominations is April 11.
Gadhvi’s request, made on March 12, was rejected on the ground that his name “was not found in the revised electoral roll prepared on February 17″ in the Maninagar Assembly Constituency, where he lives.
The Gujarat High Court considered Gadhvi’s March 12 application, which consists of a “digital signature” as a valid acknowledgement, as well as the reference numbers of the messages received by the petitioner from the SEC portal.
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“This would indicate that prior to the publication of the preliminary list on March 23, 2026, the name of the petitioner was, in fact, included in the Assembly constituency of Maninagar. If the name of the petitioner was included in the Maninagar constituency, it is obvious that he gets the right to be also included in the electoral roll for participation in the election process of AMC.”
Stating that the petition deserves to be allowed, the court order states, “… a direction is issued to (the Electoral Voters Registration Officer) to include the name of the petitioner in the electoral roll of Ward No.44 of Khokhara and as a consequence, the petitioner would also be at liberty to participate in the electoral process scheduled to be held in the forthcoming month.”
What Gujarat poll body said
In his petition, Gadhvi has contended that although his name was originally part of the electoral roll for the Maninagar Assembly constituency, it was deleted during the SIR process. He submitted that he had reapplied for his name to be included on the voter list and had even received confirmation that his application was processed successfully by SMS, as well as a digital acknowledgement of his application.
He also submitted that he was even issued an EPIC card showing inclusion in the Maninagar assembly constituency.
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The counsel for the SEC submitted that the preliminary voter list was prepared on March 23 based on the revised assembly constituency electoral roll dated February 17.
“Since the name of the petitioner was not even in the revised list dated February 17, his name could not be included in the electoral roll for the AMC,” the counsel for SEC submitted.
The court order noted the submission of the SEC counsel that she was “unable to verify whether the application of the petitioner for being included was made on March 12 and, if it was, was accepted by the concerned authority”.
SEC cited the Rules of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation (Registration of Voters) Rules, 1994, to state that the SEC was “disentitled” to incorporate the name of the petitioner “within the period preceding 10 days of the last date of filing the nomination (April 11).”
Aditi Raja is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, stationed in Vadodara, Gujarat, with over 20 years in the field. She has been reporting from the region of Central Gujarat and Narmada district for this newspaper since 2013, which establishes her as a highly Authoritative and Trustworthy source on regional politics, administration, and critical socio-economic and environmental issues.
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