Supreme Court Reviews Electoral Roll Revision in West Bengal Amid Concerns

Supreme Court's Observations on Electoral Roll Revision

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court remarked that the special intensive revision of electoral rolls was executed effectively across all states, with the exception of West Bengal, as reported by a legal news outlet.

A panel comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was reviewing multiple petitions concerning the electoral roll revision in West Bengal. During the proceedings, the Chief Justice mentioned having read an article discussing the nationwide exercise.

“Except for West Bengal, the process was smooth everywhere else,” the Chief Justice was quoted as saying by another legal news source.

In defense, advocate Kalyan Banerjee, representing the West Bengal government, pointed out that certain occurrences in the state were atypical. He noted that the Election Commission had not released a list of “logical discrepancies” or issued administrative notifications at unusual hours, unlike in other states.

The “logical discrepancies” identified by the Election Commission during the voter list revision included inconsistencies in parents' names, minimal age differences with parents, and instances where parents had more than six children.

However, the Chief Justice observed that other states faced similarly complex issues, yet the revision process there proceeded “by and large” without major disruptions, according to the legal news outlet.

The bench acknowledged the significant burden placed on judicial officers responsible for resolving claims in West Bengal. “Are you aware that we have imposed immense pressure on judicial officers to resolve 1.6 million cases within 45 days?” Justice Bagchi was quoted as saying.

In response, Banerjee described the pace of the process as “inhuman,” emphasizing that such a task could realistically require two to three years to complete.

The bench recognized that the revision exercise had presented “unique challenges” in West Bengal.

West Bengal is one of the 12 states and Union Territories where the special intensive revision of electoral rolls was conducted.

On February 28, the Election Commission released the final electoral roll for West Bengal, which excluded over 6.1 million voters. However, the process continued with approximately 6 million “doubtful and pending” cases still “under adjudication” due to objections regarding their exclusion from the draft rolls published in December.

A selection of names approved by judicial officers was included in the first supplementary list released on Monday. Of the 6 million pending cases, around 2.9 million had been adjudicated. However, the Election Commission did not clarify how many voters were removed or added to the list.

On February 20, the Supreme Court mandated that judicial officers of district judge rank be appointed to assist in completing the revision process in the state amid ongoing tensions between the Trinamool Congress government and the Election Commission.

Four days later, the court permitted judges from Odisha and Jharkhand to be deployed to address the claims and objections raised during the revision.

During Tuesday's hearing, Banerjee informed the bench that the complete supplementary list had not yet been shared with stakeholders and requested that digital copies be made available to all political parties.

Advocate DS Naidu, representing the Election Commission, assured the Supreme Court that the poll panel was prepared to publish supplementary lists daily and had submitted a proposal to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court.

Advocate Shyam Divan, representing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, expressed concerns regarding the implications of pending voter claims on the upcoming Assembly elections.

The elections are scheduled to occur in two phases on April 23 and April 29, with vote counting set for May 4.

Divan noted that approximately 14 candidates for the elections were on the adjudication list, which could hinder their ability to file nominations by the deadline.

The nomination filing deadline for the first phase is April 6, and for the second phase, it is April 9.

Divan added that the electoral roll in the state must be finalized seven days prior to polling.

In response, the Chief Justice indicated that these issues seemed administrative and should be addressed in the High Court.

The Supreme Court is tentatively scheduled to revisit the matter on April 1, as reported by the legal news outlet.