NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Election Commission to furnish details of appeals decided and pending before appellate tribunals set up to hear pleas against voter deletions during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was hearing a plea filed by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who sought expeditious disposal of SIR-related cases before the appellate tribunals.
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The CJI-led bench sought details of the cases disposed of so far as well as those still pending before the tribunals. It also issued notice to the Election Commission and fixed Chowdhury’s plea for further hearing on August 25.On March 10, the top court had directed the setting up of independent appellate tribunals headed by former high court judges to hear appeals against the exclusion of voters from the electoral rolls during the SIR exercise in West Bengal.The court had also permitted the deployment of trial court judges from West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand to deal with complaints related to the revision exercise.The SIR in West Bengal was conducted under the supervision of the Supreme Court amid allegations of irregularities and concerns over a “trust deficit” between the then state government and the Election Commission.Following the BJP’s victory in the West Bengal assembly elections, former CM Mamata Banerjee repeatedly targeted the Election Commission and the BJP over the deletion of names from electoral rolls during the SIR exercise.
