Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala high court ordered that it is illegal to remove a voter from the voters’ list without giving him or her an opportunity of hearing. The judgment was proclaimed by justice Shaji P Chaly while considering a petition of 64-year-old A Subair of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, who questioned the removal of his name from the 2019 Lok Sabha election voters’ list.

Subair said in the court that his name was removed from the list as the authorities said that he changed his residence to a new place while the names of his wife and daughter were retained.

The court also said inaction by the voter in getting his name restored also wouldn't justify such action. The court, while referring to Section 22 of the Representation of the People's Act of 1950, pointed out that the statute says the voter should be given a reasonable opportunity of being heard. 

At the same time, the Election Commission (EC) said that the removal of voters from the voters’ list was done after many procedures. The steps include inviting objections to draft electoral roll, giving publicity to deleted lists, before the final electoral roll is published. 

The court also ordered the chief election commissioner of Kerala to conduct a detailed probe on this matter and ordered to take action against the officer, who removed the petitioner's name from the voters’ list, in two weeks.