Supreme Court hails West Bengal 92.25% turnout in 1st phase
The Supreme Court praised West Bengal for its massive 92.25% voter turnout in the first phase of the assembly elections, calling it a real boost for democracy.
Chief Justice Surya Kant described this level of participation as voting "strengthens the democratic set-up" and the court was glad to see things remain peaceful, especially considering the state's history with election violence.
Mass voter deletions in West Bengal
Not everything went smoothly: more than 9 million names were cut from the voter list, which is about 12% of all voters.
Out of nearly 2.7 million people who appealed these deletions, just 139 got back on the list.
The Supreme Court suggested taking these concerns to the Calcutta High Court instead.
Plus, some election workers couldn't vote because their IDs were invalidated (the court said they should reach out to appellate tribunals, and the next phase is on April 29).