SC declines pleas on West Bengal voter roll deletion; directs petitioners to appellate tribunals

The Supreme Court today refused to entertain writ petitions filed by persons aggrieved by the deletion of their names from the electoral roll in West Bengal after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), although they are enlisted as electoral officers in the ongoing Assembly elections. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant asked the petitioners to approach the Appellate Tribunals, which have been formed to hear appeals against exclusions from the electoral roll in the SIR adjudication process.
Earlier last week, the Court had ordered that persons whose appeals are allowed by the appellate tribunals before April 21 or 27 must be allowed to vote in the first or second phase of elections, as the case may be. The Court also clarified that the mere pendency of appeal would not give anyone a right to vote.
According to the Election Commission of India, the total number of voters in the state stands at over 7.04 crore after the revision, compared to 7.66 crore earlier, indicating a reduction of more than 61 lakh names.
Meanwhile, polling for Phase One of the Assembly elections recorded a high turnout of 92.72 per cent across 152 constituencies, while turnout among transgender voters stood at 56.79 per cent. The first phase of elections in West Bengal was conducted yesterday. The second phase of polling is due on April 29.