Name deleted from Bengal voter roll? Supreme Court may order priority hearings

The Supreme Court on Friday said it would consider directing tribunals hearing appeals filed against the exclusion and inclusion of names during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of West Bengal's electoral rolls to first take up cases involving voters whose names have been deleted.

A three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said it will hear the plea on October 16.

The bench also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was hearing an application by five people whose names were deleted from the rolls. They sought an expeditious decision on their appeals so that they could cast their votes in the upcoming Kolkata and Howrah municipal elections.

Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the applicants, told the bench that as per court records, the matter is listed for October 30 and urged that it be taken up early given that the elections are scheduled in November.

Prioritise appeals from Howrah, Kolkata, court told

The CJI said the court will try to hear it on October 29. But Sankaranarayanan sought an earlier date, saying, "Please take it on priority...Our only worry is we have already missed one by-election; we will miss the municipal elections also".

Justice Bagchi said the court is "fully conscious" of the situation.

The CJI said the court is considering giving some directions to the tribunals. "We are already working on that appeals issue. We had a discussion," he said.

Sankaranarayanan said the appeals of deleted voters from Howrah and Kolkata be given priority. "There are two priorities we have contemplated. There are some appeals by persons seeking deletion. Those can be pushed behind and taken at the last stage. Appeals for inclusion can be taken first. And in those appeals, it can be further identified where the elections are there," he said.

Delay in hearing appeals questioned

Sankaranarayanan said that there are 1.7 lakh pending appeals pertaining to these in Kolkata and Howrah alone and the tribunals would take time.

"Why they are taking time?...certain feedback is very intrinsically related to issues which we need to thrash out, architecture of the software etc," Justice Bagchi said. The bench then said it will see if the matter can be listed on October 16.

Last month, the Election Commission had informed the Supreme Court that of the over 38 lakh appeals filed against inclusions and exclusions from the West Bengal electoral rolls during the SIR adjudication process, over 22 lakh appeals were filed by voters who had been deleted.