The Supreme Court said issues in West Bengal’s SIR voter list revision are mostly administrative and should be handled by the Calcutta High Court. The Court will consider extending the electoral roll freeze date; next hearing on April 1.
The Supreme Court of India recently heard petitions related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, where concerns were raised regarding voters being placed under the “logical discrepancy” list. The matter was heard by a Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.
Senior Advocate Shyam Divan appeared in the matter and referred to the Court’s earlier order dated March 10 during his submissions. The Court noted that the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court is already regularly updating the Supreme Court regarding the administrative steps being taken in relation to the ongoing SIR process.
During the hearing, Senior Advocate Shyam Divan pointed out that as per election rules, electoral rolls must be frozen seven days before polling. He informed the Court that the rolls were to be frozen on March 16 for Phase 1 and April 22 for Phase 2.
He also submitted that 14 candidates were placed on the “adjudication list,” which was preventing them from filing their nominations scheduled for April 6. In response to these concerns, CJI Surya Kant stated that most of these issues were administrative in nature and could be addressed by the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court.
Senior Advocate Shyam Divan further informed the Court about the progress made in the disposal of cases. Referring to the supplementary list, he said that around 27 lakh cases had already been disposed of by judicial officers and then proceeded to outline the reliefs being sought before the Supreme Court.
The Court responded by observing that most of the issues raised were administrative tasks that needed to be handled by the High Court administration, and only a few issues required the intervention of the Supreme Court. The Court also said that political parties were free to approach the adjudicating officer with their requests and grievances.
Senior Advocate Kalyan Banerjee raised another concern and submitted that the supplementary list had been released at midnight but the complete list had still not been released. He requested that at least a soft copy of the complete list should be provided to political parties.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi responded by observing that these appeared to be logistical issues. The Chief Justice again stated that the parties should approach the Chief Justice of the High Court since the High Court was already dealing with the matter.
During the hearing, the Chief Justice also made an observation after reading an article about the SIR process. He noted that apart from West Bengal, the process appeared to have gone smoothly in other states as well.
However, Senior Advocate Kalyan Banerjee disagreed with this observation and argued that the situation in West Bengal was different and that nowhere else had a “logical discrepancy” list been published, nor were notifications issued at 3 AM transferring the Chief Secretary.
The Chief Justice responded by saying that issues existed in other states as well and in some places the number of voters had actually increased after the SIR process. Kalyan Banerjee responded that such an increase was due to population growth since 2002 and that a 20% increase was not unusual.
Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy then requested the Court to consider extending the date for freezing of electoral rolls. Justice Joymalya Bagchi responded that the Court would consider the request.
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The Chief Justice also appreciated the work being done by officers and said that the process was moving well and that officers had been working day and night to complete the task. He noted that more than 2 lakh objections were being decided by judicial officers who had not taken a single day’s leave.
Further in the hearing, Senior Advocate Kalyan Banerjee raised the issue of reasons not being given in some decisions. Justice Joymalya Bagchi responded by saying that judicial officers had been put under immense pressure as they had to deal with 16 lakh cases in 45 days.
Kalyan Banerjee also mentioned that earlier the Court had said that reasons would be given and also raised the issue of the Chief Secretary being transferred overnight. Justice Bagchi clarified that the focus of the Court was not on blaming anyone but on ensuring a fair process and protecting the right to vote.
He also said that Mr. Naidu should assist the Chief Justice of the High Court in completing the remaining work. The Chief Justice concluded by saying that the Court trusts that all objections will be decided in time.
However, Kalyan Banerjee argued that the process was inhuman and that it would take two to three years to complete. Justice Bagchi acknowledged that West Bengal has unique challenges but reiterated that the Court’s focus is to ensure that the voting rights of people are protected.
Senior Advocate D.S. Naidu also informed the Court that the task was very large and that only some shortcomings had been flagged so far. The Court again directed that these issues should be taken up with the Chief Justice of the High Court. The next hearing in the matter is likely to take place on April 1.
The matter will now be taken up again by the Supreme Court on April 1, where the Court is expected to consider issues including the request to extend the deadline for freezing electoral rolls and other concerns raised regarding the SIR process in West Bengal.
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