SC: SIR in many states, but Bengal alone has so many issues with it | India News
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that while SIRs are being conducted smoothly in other states, it is West Bengal that has generated cases related to revision of electoral rolls.“Other states have many competing complex issues. Yet, despite equally complex issues, the SIR has been conducted so easily. But there have been no such cases. There are states – Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh – where deletion rates are very high,” said a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Jayamalya Bagchi.Allow voter list additions up to 7 days before polls: WB to SC The court stuck to its view that the ‘logical inconsistency’ ground did not apply in other states despite senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee saying that West Bengal was a separate case in SIR practice.“Except in West Bengal, other states ruled by different political parties, SIR is running smoothly,” the bench said.The SC exercised its extraordinary powers as an election officer under Article 142 of the Constitution to depute judicial officers from West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha under the supervision of the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, to adjudicate claims for inclusion of those names in the electoral roll under ‘logical inconsistency’ or ‘logical inconsistency’. Appearing for West Bengal, senior advocates Shyam Divan, Kalyan Banerjee and Menaka Guruswamy said out of 60 lakh claims, the judicial officers had awarded only 27 lakh.The balance seems unlikely to be decided before April 6, the deadline for nominations for the April 23 first-phase polls and April 9, the deadline for nominations for the April 29 second-phase constituencies, they said.It would be better if the release of the supplementary voter list containing the names of those cleared after verification for the two rounds of polls be extended to April 16 and April 22 respectively, they said, requesting that the voter lists not be frozen on the last date of filing nominations.The bench said that the judicial officers were working day and night without taking a single day off and suggested that improvements in vetting should be better placed before the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court.The bench said the Election Commission can help the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court and judicial officers to adjudicate claims related to constituencies going to polls first in the first phase and then in the second phase. However, it said that the petitioner’s complaint regarding the 14 candidates nominated to contest the elections by various political parties featuring dubious voter segments can be given priority.Senior advocate DS Naidu, appearing for the EC, told the SC that the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court has been advised that names cleared for inclusion in the voter list may be published daily through a supplementary voter list. SC has fixed the next hearing date on April 1.When Banerjee said that the judicial officers must give reasons for rejecting the claims of the aggrieved persons, the bench said that the reasons cannot be provided now. The Supreme Court also said that the EC can use the available space of the WB Judicial Academy for a tribunal headed by former High Court judges to hear appeals against name-dropping.
