The Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission to publish a supplementary electoral roll in West Bengal to include voters whose appeals against deletions have been accepted by the appellate tribunals, Live Law reported on Thursday.
Persons whose appeals have been cleared by the tribunals before April 21 should be included for voting in the first phase of Assembly elections, said a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. Those who are cleared by April 27 should be included in the final electoral rolls for the second phase of the polls.
All decisions made by the tribunals on the addition and deletion of voters by those dates must be reflected in the final voter lists.
The first phase of polling will be held on April 23 and the second on April 29. The votes will be counted on May 4.
The order was passed on Monday but was made public on Thursday.
The court said that filing an appeal against exclusion from the voter list in itself would not entitle a person to vote, Live Law reported.
The bench was hearing a plea urging it to ensure that the persons whose appeals were pending before the tribunals are allowed to vote.
The Election Commission had frozen the electoral rolls for the first phase of polling on April 9.
The bench had on Monday dismissed a petition by persons whose appeals against exclusions from the voter rolls are pending before appellate tribunals, but allowed the petitioners to pursue their appeals before the tribunals.
The court had at the time also said that it cannot allow persons to vote if their appeals challenging their exclusion from the voter list are pending before the appellate tribunals. More than 34 lakh such appeals have been filed before the appellate tribunals, the bench had noted.
However, the court had indicated that it might consider the plea to allow the publishing of supplementary electoral rolls to include the persons whose appeals are accepted before polling.
The Election Commission on February 28 published the final electoral roll for West Bengal, showing that more than 61 lakh voters had been excluded. However, the process had continued with about 60 lakh “doubtful and pending” cases remaining under adjudication based on their objections to their exclusions from the draft rolls published in December.
Several supplementary lists were released, in which the names of more voters have been included.
The process had concluded on April 6 after judicial officers adjudicated the 60 lakh claims and objections. However, voters who were removed during the adjudication process can appeal in 19 tribunals set up for the purpose.
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 has been rejected by a judicial officer can approach the tribunal.
Nearly 91 lakh voters have been removed from West Bengal’s voter lists as part of the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls. The deletions represent nearly 11.9% of the state’s electorate of 7.6 crore that existed before the revision process began.
Also read: Millions of Bengalis may lose their vote. Not over citizenship but due to clerical errors
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