The Crossbill Team
The Supreme Court on Monday (September 28) declined to advance the hearing of a case concerning thousands of pending appeals against exclusions from West Bengal’s electoral rolls, despite a request for urgent intervention before the October 6 by-elections in Nandigram and Rejinagar.
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana refused to take up the matter earlier than scheduled.
“These are only by-elections, that’s all,” the CJI said, according to Bar and Bench.
The case is now listed for October 5.
The request for an early hearing was made in view of the large number of appeals arising from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bengal. Counsel told the court that the matter had earlier been listed for October 29 and was now tentatively scheduled for October 5.
“We are seeking urgent directions so that it can be listed before that. There are more than 18,000 appeals pending which have not been disposed of. These people did not take part in the first elections,” the counsel said, according to the report.
The hearing comes amid a much larger backlog before the SIR appellate tribunals. According to data obtained through an RTI application filed by Congress MP Isha Khan Choudhury, 38,10,620 appeals had been filed as of August 7, of which 37,27,838, or 97.83%, remained pending.
Of the 82,782 appeals disposed of, 75,443 resulted in voters being included in the electoral rolls, while 7,339 resulted in exclusion. Thus, 91.13% of the decided appeals resulted in inclusion, according to the RTI response from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal.
The Supreme Court had earlier sought details from the Election Commission on the pending appeals, including the number of cases concerning inclusion and exclusion and the steps being taken to update the electoral rolls following tribunal decisions.
The issue had also come up before the court during the Bengal Assembly election earlier this year.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi had then observed: “This election yes perhaps they can’t vote. The more valuable right to remain on the rolls shall be preserved,” reported The Telegraph.
In another April hearing, Justice Bagchi had raised concerns over the possible consequences of voters being excluded from the rolls while an election was underway.
“If 10% of the electorate does not vote and the winning margin is more than 10%…what will happen? Suppose margin is 2% and 15% of electorate who are mapped could not vote, then maybe, we are not expressing any opinion, but we would definitely have to apply our minds. Please keep this in mind that the concern of a vigilant voter whose name correctly or incorrectly is not in the list is not in our minds,” Live Law quoted Justice Bagchi as saying.
The latest hearing therefore comes against the backdrop of a substantial number of unresolved SIR appeals, including cases involving voters who were unable to participate in the Assembly election because their names were not on the electoral rolls.
The October 5 hearing will take place a day before the scheduled by-elections in Nandigram and Rejinagar.
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana refused to take up the matter earlier than scheduled.
“These are only by-elections, that’s all,” the CJI said, according to Bar and Bench.
The case is now listed for October 5.
The request for an early hearing was made in view of the large number of appeals arising from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bengal. Counsel told the court that the matter had earlier been listed for October 29 and was now tentatively scheduled for October 5.
“We are seeking urgent directions so that it can be listed before that. There are more than 18,000 appeals pending which have not been disposed of. These people did not take part in the first elections,” the counsel said, according to the report.
The hearing comes amid a much larger backlog before the SIR appellate tribunals. According to data obtained through an RTI application filed by Congress MP Isha Khan Choudhury, 38,10,620 appeals had been filed as of August 7, of which 37,27,838, or 97.83%, remained pending.
Of the 82,782 appeals disposed of, 75,443 resulted in voters being included in the electoral rolls, while 7,339 resulted in exclusion. Thus, 91.13% of the decided appeals resulted in inclusion, according to the RTI response from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal.
The Supreme Court had earlier sought details from the Election Commission on the pending appeals, including the number of cases concerning inclusion and exclusion and the steps being taken to update the electoral rolls following tribunal decisions.
The issue had also come up before the court during the Bengal Assembly election earlier this year.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi had then observed: “This election yes perhaps they can’t vote. The more valuable right to remain on the rolls shall be preserved,” reported The Telegraph.
In another April hearing, Justice Bagchi had raised concerns over the possible consequences of voters being excluded from the rolls while an election was underway.
“If 10% of the electorate does not vote and the winning margin is more than 10%…what will happen? Suppose margin is 2% and 15% of electorate who are mapped could not vote, then maybe, we are not expressing any opinion, but we would definitely have to apply our minds. Please keep this in mind that the concern of a vigilant voter whose name correctly or incorrectly is not in the list is not in our minds,” Live Law quoted Justice Bagchi as saying.
The latest hearing therefore comes against the backdrop of a substantial number of unresolved SIR appeals, including cases involving voters who were unable to participate in the Assembly election because their names were not on the electoral rolls.
The October 5 hearing will take place a day before the scheduled by-elections in Nandigram and Rejinagar.
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