MUMBAI, Nov. 7 -- The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Maharashtra chief electoral officer to consider the application of an 18-year-old college student from Mumbai seeking to be added to the electoral rolls for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. The HC however, warned that if every individual began submitting voter enrolment applications immediately upon turning 18, it would overwhelm the authorities with verification work and "open the floodgates". The petitioner, Rupika Anil Singh, turned 18 in March 2024 and applied to register as a first-time voter soon after. However, her application was rejected on the ground that she had crossed the qualifying cut-off date of October 1, 2023, meaning her name could only be added during the next revision of rolls. Singh, represented by senior advocate Simil Purohit, argued that a 2021 amendment to the Representation of the People Act allows voter registers to be revised based on four qualifying dates in a year rather than just one. "My right to vote cannot be denied merely because the list was not revised, despite a statutory mandate enabling it," Purohit submitted. He added that earlier, those who turned 18 after the annual cut-off had to wait until the following year to be enrolled, but the amendment now permits multiple qualifying dates to avoid such exclusion, particularly in the run-up to elections. Senior advocate Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, appearing for the ECI, opposed the plea. He contended that enrolment is permitted only during specific revision periods announced through Form 5 notifications. "A precedent like this would have wide repercussions. The ECI maintains rolls for a population larger than the whole of Europe, such changes have to follow an existing, structured process," he said. A division bench of justices Riyaz Chagla and Farhan Dubash observed that while the petitioner may be legally eligible to vote, the right to vote is realised only upon inclusion in the electoral roll. The court noted that the amendment allows for multiple qualifying dates, but does not require the ECI to revise rolls each time an individual applies. "Do you see the floodgates that open if every citizen applies individually? The revision process is undertaken only when the ECI decides to revise the rolls," the court remarked. Without entering into the merits of the legal questions raised, the bench directed the Maharashtra chief electoral officer to consider Singh's representation and pass an appropriate order within six weeks. Singh is among thousands of young voters in Mumbai who turned 18 this year but may not get to vote in the long-delayed civic elections. With the electoral rolls frozen ahead of the 2024 Assembly polls, those born after October 1, 2006, despite now being adults, are not reflected on the voter list. Mumbai recorded approximately 1.8 lakh births in both 2006 and 2007, meaning a large cohort of potential first-time voters could be unable to participate in electing representatives for 227 civic wards, which have remained without elected corporators for over three years....