The Bombay High Court has clarified that a person who turns 18 does not automatically gain the right to vote until the next scheduled revision of the electoral roll. The court cautioned that allowing every newly eligible citizen to seek immediate enrollment would “open the floodgates” and overwhelm election authorities with verification work.
A division bench of Justices Riyaz Chagla and Farhan Dubash was hearing a plea by 18-year-old Rupika Singh, whose voter registration application had been rejected since she attained majority after the cut-off date of October 1, 2024—the reference date for the electoral roll used in the November 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
The bench drew a distinction between the freedom to vote and the right to vote, citing a Supreme Court precedent.
“Once you turn 18, you have the freedom to vote. But the right comes only when the electoral list is revised by the authorities,”
the court observed.
The judges agreed with the Election Commission of India’s submission, represented by senior counsel Ashutosh Kumbakoni, that the voter list is revised periodically—typically before parliamentary or assembly elections—and not on a rolling basis.
“If every person started filing applications immediately upon turning 18, authorities would be left verifying each application. This will open floodgates,” the court remarked.
With Kumbakoni agreeing to have Singh’s application considered, the bench directed the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) to decide her plea within six weeks. The petition was then disposed of.
Singh had argued that her fundamental right to vote was being violated since her online and offline applications were both rejected. She pointed out that citizens who turned 18 on or after October 2, 2024, could not select their date of birth in the Election Commission’s portal.
She further claimed that this exclusion would prevent her from participating in the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, which have been pending since March 2022. The state government has announced that the voters’ list prepared as of October 2024 will be adopted for these polls.
Kumbakoni, representing the ECI and the Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra, clarified that Singh would not be eligible to vote in the municipal elections this year, as her name would be included only after the next roll revision, notified for July 1, 2025.
