The Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission to submit a detailed account of appeals processed by judicial tribunals handling voter list deletions in West Bengal.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V. Mohana issued the direction on Tuesday while hearing a petition filed by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. The plea seeks the prompt resolution of all pending cases connected to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state’s electoral rolls.
Notice Issued and Next Hearing Set
Issuing notice to the election body, the top court instructed officials to furnish data on both the cases already decided and those still pending before the appellate tribunals across West Bengal. The bench has scheduled the matter for further hearing on August 25.
Tribunal Setup and Judicial Deployment
The appellate framework was instituted following a Supreme Court order on March 10, which mandated the creation of independent tribunals headed by former high court judges to adjudicate exclusions from the electoral registry.
To manage the volume of grievances related to the SIR, the apex court also permitted the deployment of trial court judges drawn from West Bengal, Orissa, and Jharkhand.
Context of the Electoral Revision
The SIR process in West Bengal was carried out under direct Supreme Court monitoring. The judicial oversight was instituted in response to allegations of procedural irregularities and a significant trust deficit between the Election Commission and the then-state government.
