65 poll officers, on duty, excluded from Bengal voter roll
What's the story
The Supreme Court has refused to entertain writ petitions of 65 election duty officers in West Bengal, whose names were deleted from the electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), despite being enlisted as electoral officers in the ongoing elections. The court asked them to approach the Appellate Tribunals set up for appeals against such exclusions. The bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi, passed the order on Friday.
Legal arguments
Senior advocate argues on petitioners' behalf
Senior Advocate MR Shamshad, representing the petitioners, argued that it was "ex-facie arbitrariness" to delete their names without notice. "These are 65 petitioners who are on election duty. Their duty orders mention EPIC numbers. Now those numbers are deleted. Now the persons conducting elections cannot vote ! This is on the face arbitrary," he argued. However, the bench asked them to approach the appellate tribunal for redressal.
Tribunal direction
Petitioners informed court appeals filed on April 5
The petitioners informed the court that they had already filed appeals on April 5, but their cases were not taken up. The bench permitted them to pursue their remedies before the appellate tribunal and disposed of the matter. Justice Bagchi observed after the hearing, "Appropriate orders will be passed by the tribunal this election; yes, perhaps they can't vote. The more valuable right to remain on the rolls shall be preserved."
Voting directive
Supreme Court's order on voting rights
Last week, the Supreme Court had directed that those whose appeals are allowed by appellate tribunals before April 21 or 27 must be allowed to vote in their respective election phases. However, it clarified that mere pendency of appeal wouldn't give anyone a right to vote. Nearly 34 lakh appeals are reportedly pending before the tribunals. Amidst this legal hindrance, a 92.8% voter turnout, the highest since Independence, was recorded in Bengal in the first phase of polling.