The Supreme Court has stayed an order by the Uttarakhand High Court that directed the State Election Commissioner to investigate whether an Additional District Magistrate (ADM), who understands English but cannot speak it fluently, is capable of effectively holding an executive position such as Electoral Registration Officer (ERO).
The apex court bench, comprising Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, Justice K. Vinod Chandran, and Justice N.V. Anjaria, also issued notices to petitioner Akash Bora and 53 individuals accused of being listed as voters in Uttarakhand despite allegedly being residents of other states.
Earlier, the High Court had directed the State Election Commission and Chief Secretary to assess if an ADM unable to speak English could manage the responsibilities of ERO effectively. This directive was challenged by the State Election Commissioner and others through a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has now stayed the High Court’s 18 July 2025 order and given respondents four weeks to file replies.
The PIL by Akash Bora from Budhlakot village alleged that 82 outsiders, mostly from Odisha and other states, were wrongly included in the local voter list. A preliminary inquiry identified 18 non-residents, but their names remained even after the final list was released. Bora later submitted another list of 30 such individuals.
The High Court had also questioned whether family registers could be relied upon to finalise voter lists, noting that these are not mentioned in the Uttar Pradesh Registration Rules, 1994, which were enacted after the 1970 Family Register Maintenance Rules.
