The Supreme Court on Friday said that it will hear on Monday petitions challenging the freezing of the electoral rolls by the Election Commission, ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls in West Bengal, PTI reported.
On Thursday, the poll panel froze and finalised the voter lists for all Assembly seats in the state.
The elections in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 4.
After the special intensive revision of voter rolls, the Election Commission on February 28 published the final voter lists for West Bengal, showing that more than 61 lakh voters had been excluded.
However, the process continued, with about 60 lakh “doubtful and pending” cases under adjudication following objections to exclusions from the draft rolls published in December.
On February 20, the Supreme Court ordered that judicial officers of the rank of district judge or additional district judge be appointed to help complete the revision exercise in the state.
On March 10, the top court ordered the formation of appellate tribunals composed of former High Court chief justices and judges to hear appeals against exclusions. A person whose claim for inclusion in the electoral rolls had been rejected by a judicial officer could approach the tribunal.
With the rolls frozen on Thursday, no person whose name has been deleted can be added back to the lists for the upcoming elections, PTI reported.
On Friday, a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant was hearing a fresh petition, along with several pending ones, challenging the freezing of electoral rolls in the state.
“We will consider the petition on April 13,” PTI quoted the chief justice as saying.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi said that there is a “cut-off line with respect to an election, and underlying is a constitutional right to be on the electoral roll and to vote in further elections,” the news agency reported.
He added: “That is much higher and permanent.”
Citing data from the Election Commission, The Statesman had reported on Tuesday that nearly 91 lakh voters were removed from West Bengal’s voter lists as part of the revision of the electoral rolls.
The deletions represented nearly 11.9% of the state’s electorate of 7.6 crore that existed before the voter roll revision process began.
The exercise concluded after judicial officers adjudicated the claims and objections. However, voters who were removed during this process could appeal in 19 tribunals set up for the purpose.
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