Supreme Court Refuses Plea by West Bengal Election Duty Officers Excluded From Voter Roll
Recently Supreme 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 Supreme Court directed the West Bengal Governor to appoint vice chancellors to three state universities from names shortlisted by the UU Lalit-led panel.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain writ petitions filed by officers engaged in West Bengal election duty who are aggrieved by the deletion of their names from the electoral roll post the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi has asked the officersto approach the Appellate Tribunals which are hearing appeals against exclusions from the electoral roll in the SIR adjudication process.
Senior Advocate MR Shamshad told the bench today, "These are 65 petitioners who are on election duty. Their duty orders mention EPIC numbers. They are deleted. Now the persons conducting elections cannot vote, this is on the face arbitrary...".
"Make these arguments before the appellate tribunal. Let the tribunal look into it," the CJI responded.
In March, the Supreme Court in a related case had expressed its apprehensions over entertaining petitions filed by voters from West Bengal whose names have been deleted from the Electoral Rolls. As a mentioning was made before a CJI Surya Kant led bench, Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy said, "We have been deleted from electoral rolls..they had voted earlier..". To this CJI had replied, "We cannot sit in appeal over the decision of judicial officers..".
Agreeing to Guruswamy's submission that an appeal does lie as per provisions of the Section 22 and 23 of The Representation Of The People Act, 1950, court agreed to hear the issue tomorrow. "Anything left to hear other than West Bengal", CJI Kant had observed.
Recently, the Supreme Court had expressed that it should have constituted a separate bench to hear the issues pertaining to Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls in the state of West Bengal. A CJI Surya Kant led bench had said, "We should have constituted a separate bench for this". This remark was made by the bench after a mentioning was made by Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy.
Guruswamy had flagged the issue of mass enrollment of fresh voters in the state of West Bengal. "Form 6 used only in West Bengal to add new voters..About 5-7 lakh new voters have been added by ECI," the senior lawyer had told the bench.
Notably, on April 1, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain the allegations made before it over submission of 30,000 Form 6 applications during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls in the state of West Bengal. "Happens every time, not the first time. You can raise objections," CJI Kant had said in response.
Supreme Court had also expressed its concerns over continuous impediments coming in the way of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls being conducted in the state of West Bengal by the Election Commission of India. "I was reading an article on SIR. Except West Bengal, everywhere it has happened smoothly...The article mentioned this", CJI Kant said while hearing fresh issues flagged by the state.
Case Title: MD TOHIDUL ISLAM Vs ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA
Bench: CJI Kant, Justice Bagchi and Justice Pancholi
Hearing Date: April 24, 2026