Madras HC refuses to direct EC to send confirmation SMS to voters

Madras HC declines to mandate SMS confirmations for voters in 2026 elections but encourages future consideration by the EC.

The Madras High Court on Friday (April 10, 2026) said no direction could be issued to the Election Commission of India (EC) to implement an SMS confirmation system to intimate voters about the casting of their vote during the Assembly election 2026.

First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan said it was too late to issue any such direction since half the election process had already been completed and what remained was just the campaigning and the polling on April 23.

The judges observed that the EC could at best be directed to consider the possibility of sending SMSes to voters immediately after they cast their vote only during the future elections. The observations were made during the hearing of a public interest litigation petition.

K.R. Kukesh, founder-president of the Tamil Nadu Isai Vellalar Youth Federation, from Chennai had filed the petition. He said exercising the franchise during elections was one of the most important rights and the duty of all eligible voters in the country, and every single vote held immense value in a democracy.

Stating almost every household in the State had a mobile phone and confirmation messages related to multiple services, such as the public distribution system, domestic gas delivery, and banking, were received through SMS, the petitioner wondered why such a system should not be implemented by the EC too.

Mr. Kukesh said the EC had conducted camps for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu just before the issuance of the election notification. During that exercise, the complete details including Aadhaar card and mobile phone numbers of 5.67 crore voters had been obtained.