Supreme Court to hear Mamata Banerjee’s plea against voter roll revision in West Bengal

Representational image. File pic

The Supreme Court of India is scheduled to hear the plea filed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and several Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders challenging the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state on Tuesday.

News agency IANS reported, as per the cause list published on the website of the Supreme Court, a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and comprising Justices R. Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi will take up the petitions filed by the West Bengal Chief Minister as well as TMC MPs Dola Sen and Derek O'Brien.

While filing the application, Chief Minister Banerjee has accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of acting with political bias. Mamata Banerjee has also alleged that, in the manner in which the SIR exercise is being conducted, it would result in the deletion of names of lakhs of voters belonging to marginalised sections of society.

Mamata slams SIR

West Bengal's Chief Minister, in her plea, has also contended that the process disproportionately affects vulnerable groups and has sought directions to ensure that genuine voters are not excluded from the electoral rolls, reported IANS.

During the previous hearing, the Supreme Court had intervened to address the deadlock between the West Bengal government and the poll body over the conduct of the revision exercise and directed that judicial officers be involved in the process of deciding objections and claims filed by voters.

Taking note of the situation, the CJI-led bench had directed the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to nominate serving and some retired judicial officers of the rank of Additional District Judge (ADJ) to assist in adjudicating claims and objections filed by voters during the revision exercise.

The Supreme Court earlier also said that the ECI officials and the West Bengal government would assist the judicial officers in carrying out the process.

The Apex Court had also permitted judicial officers from neighbouring High Courts, including Jharkhand and Orissa, to be deputed to West Bengal to expedite the adjudication of voter claims and objections arising from the ongoing SIR exercise.

The direction from the Supreme Court came after the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court stated that nearly 80 lakh applications involving categories such as "logical discrepancy" and "unmapped voters" required adjudication, while only around 250 judicial officers were available to deal with the massive pendency.

Invoking its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court had also clarified that the poll body may proceed with publication of the final electoral roll even if adjudication of certain cases remains pending, adding that voters whose names are included in subsequent supplementary lists would be deemed to be part of the final electoral roll.

(With inputs from IANS)