NEW DELHI: In a new twist to the simmering controversy over the West Bengal SIR, Supreme Court was informed Tuesday that against 27-lakh odd deletions from voters’ list because of ‘logical discrepancy’ only seven lakh filed appeals seeking inclusion of their names in the electoral rolls.A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was informed by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan that of total 38.1 lakh appeals filed before the SIR appellate tribunals, an overwhelming 31 lakh were filed by those who challenged inclusion of names in the rolls claiming they were ineligible to be voters in Bengal.
Chunk of WB appeals was against inclusion
This was new information for SC, which was concerned by pendency of 37 lakh appeals, as 19 tribunals in last four months decided only 82,000 appeals. The new turn means 20 lakh of 27-lakh-odd voters deleted for logical discrepancy have not appealed against being struck off the rolls during the SIR.SC said a chunk of appeals was by those challenging inclusion. EC will give breakup differentiating those seeking inclusion from exclusion. Prioritising inclusion appeals would considerably reduce burden on tribunals, it said.For petitioner Prasenjit Bose from Congress, advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Neha Rathi alleged that bulk of appeals for exclusion/deletion have been filed by EC in a mechanical manner against orders of judicial officers who had directed inclusion of the names and these appeals should not be heard at all.Sankaranarayanan said Kolkata and Howrah civic polls are due in Dec and at least appeals pertaining to these areas should be decided expeditiously so nobody gets disenfranchised illegally.SC said its main concern was expeditious decision on appeals of disenfranchised people. It directed EC to respond with data on appeals pending after segregating them into two categories — those seeking inclusion and those seeking exclusion of names. It asked EC to suggest a mechanism for speeding up disposal, including increasing the number of tribunals.The bench also asked EC to detail steps taken to include names of those whose appeals had been allowed. EC said it was holding meetings with the acting CJ of Calcutta HC and would submit a proposal on expediting disposal.
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Appearing for some petitioners, advocate Rauf Rahim said people whose names were deleted and whose appeals were pending should not be deprived of ration and benefits under the govt schemes.Advocate Kalyan Bandopadhyay told the bench that in Murshidabad, many constituencies had voter deletions far exceeding winning margin, and alleged a particular community appeared to have been targeted through SIR. SC will hear issue again next week.
