Turning 18 doesn’t ensure right to vote immediately, rules Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Thursday (November 6) observed that if every individual were to submit a voter enrolment application immediately upon turning 18, it would overwhelm the authorities with verification work and “open the floodgates”.

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The court said that a person who has turned 18 would be included in the electoral roll when a revision takes place. It directed the Electoral Registration Officer to decide, within six weeks, on the application of an 18-year-old woman seeking to be enrolled as a voter in Mumbai.

Court clarifies voting rights

Rupika Singh, who turned 18 in April this year, approached the High Court alleging that her application for enrollment as a voter had not been accepted because the cut-off date in the state was October 1, 2024. The Maharashtra Assembly elections were held in November 2024.

The schedule for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, which have been pending since March 2022, has not yet been announced.

A division bench of Justices Riyaz Chagla and Farhan Dubash, referring to a Supreme Court judgement, noted that there is a distinction between the freedom to vote and the right to vote.

“Once you turn 18, you have the freedom to vote. But the right arises only when the electoral list is revised by the authorities,” the bench observed, adding that the petitioner was not eligible to vote as of October 2024, when the electoral roll was prepared.

Warns of verification overload

The judges also opined that if every individual began filing applications upon turning 18, the authorities would be burdened with continuous verification.

“This will open the floodgates,” the bench remarked, reiterating that a person who has turned 18 would be added to the list when the electoral roll is next revised.

When the court asked whether the relevant authority would consider the petitioner’s application, senior counsel Ashutosh Kumbakoni, appearing for the Election Commission of India and the Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra, agreed.

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The bench accordingly directed the Electoral Registration Officer to consider Singh’s application within six weeks and disposed of her petition.

Electoral roll revision protocol

In her plea, Singh contended that her fundamental right to vote was being violated and that without her name on the electoral roll, she would be unable to vote in the forthcoming municipal elections.

The Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra had earlier stated that the state would adopt the electoral roll prepared as of October 2024 for the local body elections.

Kumbakoni told the court on Thursday that since the Assembly election voters’ list would be used for the upcoming municipal polls, Singh would not be eligible to vote this year. He added that the electoral roll is revised before every parliamentary or Assembly election.

Violation of the right to vote?

After turning 18 in April, Singh attempted to apply through the Election Commission of India’s online portal to register as a voter.

However, she was unable to submit her application because the portal did not offer an option for citizens of Maharashtra who turned 18 on or after October 2, 2024, to select their date of birth. She later tried to submit her application offline, but that too was not accepted, according to her petition.

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Singh subsequently learnt that July 1, 2025, had been notified as the enrollment cut-off date for local body elections, meaning that only citizens whose names were included in the voters' list as of that date would be permitted to vote. She claimed that the non-acceptance of her application amounted to a “violation of her freedom of expression through the act of voting”.

(With agency inputs)