SIR row in West Bengal: Supreme Court to consider plea on voter deletion

On February 9, the top court made it clear to the states that it will not allow anyone to create any impediment in the completion of the SIR

• Supreme Court to hear plea on voter deletions in West Bengal SIR
• Judicial officers assigned to manage 80 lakh claims and objections
• Exercise expected to take 80 days to conclude

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The Supreme Court agreed to consider on Tuesday a fresh plea filed by some persons whose names have been deleted from the electoral rolls by the Election Commission during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took note of the submissions of senior advocate Maneka Guruswamy that the plea pertained to deletion of erstwhile voters from the rolls.

“These are electors. They had voted earlier and now their documents have not been taken,” the senior lawyer said.

“But in the scheme of things, we cannot sit on appeal over the decisions of the judicial officers,” the CJI observed.

When the senior lawyer said the appeals are maintainable, the bench said it will hear on Tuesday.On February 24, the top court allowed the deployment of West Bengal civil judges, in addition to 250 district judges, and the requisitioning of judicial officers from Jharkhand and Odisha to handle 80 lakh claims and objections of those facing deletion from the electoral roll in the ongoing SIR exercise in the state.

It took note of a February 22 letter of Calcutta High Court chief justice Sujoy Paul that even if 250 district judges deployed in the SIR exercise will take around 80 days to deal with the claims and objections of those put under logical discrepancy and unmapped categories.

The logical discrepancies in progeny linking with the 2002 voter list include instances of a mismatch in the parent’s name and the age difference between a voter and his/her parent being less than 15 years or more than 50 years.

While issuing a slew of fresh directions, CJI Kant took note of the fact that even if each judicial officer deals with 250 claims and objections per day, the exercise will take around 80 days to conclude. The deadline for West Bengal SIR was February 28.

On February 9, the top court made it clear to the states that it will not allow anyone to create any impediment in the completion of the SIR and directed the WB DGP to file an affidavit on the EC’s allegation of burning of its notices by some persons.