In a historic moment, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee today appeared in the Supreme Court as a 'common citizen of India' against what she claimed was "unprecedented hardship and distress being inflicted upon ordinary citizens across the State of West Bengal".
After waiting for over two-and-a-half hours at back row of the Chief Justice's court, she began her arguments by telling the Supreme Court that the people of West Bengal were not getting Justice anywhere.
“Justice is crying behind closed doors! I personally wrote 6 letters but never got a reply from the Election Commission,” she told the bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant.
Why Mamata moved the top court
While challenging the Election Commission's special intensive revision exercise in West Bengal, she prayed to the top court that the next Assembly election should be based on the existing 2025 voter list and not the new one prepared after the SIR, as lakhs of legitimate voters risked exclusion from the same.
"A process that takes two years, they want to complete it in three months! Bengal is being targeted! Why is this process not being carried out in Assam?" she asked in the top court.
Calling 8300 micro-observers deployed in Bengal by the EC as "unconstitutional" and "BJP officers", she said they are deleting all the names without any real official authority.
Making a rather emotive appeal in the top court, Bannerjee flagged how lakhs of people are facing disenfranchisement over "logical discrepancies" in voter list preparation.
Other than seeking use of the 2025 voter list for the next Assembly election, her main prayer included putting up the list of 1.4 crore disputed voter names on the EC's website in a searchable format. She further prayed to the top court that the EC should be asked to accept the Aadhaar card as Proof of Identity in discrepancy cases.
She also alleged there is a 'secret mass deletions' of voters via bulk Form-7 and sought a stay on the same. However, what stood out was the issue of logical discrepancy deletions.
What is 'logical discrepancy', over which even the Supreme Court agreed that Mamata Banerjee's concerns were genuine?
The issue comes up when voters names are deleted because of a mismatch with in progeny linking, like mismatch with parents' surname, surname spelling, age gap between mother and child and so on.
The top court also noted that especially in case of Bengal, minor mismatches happen when Bengali names are translated to English and many surnames can be spelt differently. Datta maybe spelled as Dutta, different spellings for Bandhopadhyay exist in Bengal, and this cannot be a reason for deletion, the court noted.
Mamata Bannerjee brought newspaper articles showing how, when a daughter is married, she changes her surname and even that is a mismatch for the EC.
"Daughters who have shifted to their in-law's place… even their names have been deleted. Sometimes poor people shift homes or change addresses for work but, under the category of ‘logical discrepancy', even their names have been deleted," she told the court.
Alleging a conspiracy by the EC she termed the poll body a "WhatsApp Commission" as it was sending notice on WhatsApp to common citizens who, she claimed were being forced to stand in queues for three to four hours.
The Chief Minister also had much to say about the deaths of BLOs, or booth level officers, who are officials appointed by the Election Commission to carry out the special intensive revision.
The opposition has argued that immense pressure is being placed on BLOs to administer the revision in what, they claim, is a manner favourable to the ruling party.
"More than 100 BLOs have died… because of the harassment of the EC… and many others have been hospitalised. Bengal is being targeted," she told the Chief Justice, "Sir, tell me… why not Assam (which also holds an election this year? Why not the northeast?" she asked passionately.
She also prayed that voters in the 'logical discrepancy' list should be included, suo motu without the voters being called for hearing.
What her written submissions said
Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Mamata Banerjee, submitted that only 11 days are left for the publication of the final list and that out of over 1.36 crore voters, 63 lakh persons included in the 'logical discrepancy' list are yet to be heard.
It is impossible to complete these hearings with just four days left for the hearing, he said.
Divan further submitted the ECI was not displaying the reasons for those peoples' inclusion in the 'logical discrepancy' list.
He said that over 50 per cent of persons included in the 'logical discrepancy' list had been listed over minor spelling mismatches. Minor mismatches happen when Bengali names are written in English and many surnames can be spelt differently, he said. He proposed that persons should not be put in the 'logical discrepancy' list over mere spelling mismatches.
What the EC said
Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, for the EC, however submitted that the EC had to appoint micro-observers since the state government did not spare sufficient Group B officers for SIR work despite multiple reminders being sent.
Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, also for the EC, said there was non-cooperation by the state.
What the Supreme Court said
Calling the issues raised by Mamata Bannerjee "genuine" the Supreme Court ultimately issued notice to the Election Commission on her plea and sought their response by next Monday.
Regarding the issue of micro-observers, the bench said that if the state government can give a list of Group B officers who can be spared for the SIR duties, then micro-observers can be removed.
The Chief Justice also asked the EC to instruct its officers to act in a sensible manner over notices issued over name-spelling mismatches to renowned authors. Prominent citizens of the state, including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, acclaimed Bengali poet Joy Goswami, and three-time Trinamool Congress MP Dipak Adhikari, alias Dev, received summons.
Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, submitted there was an "atmosphere of hostility" in the State against EC officials. Mehta also requested the bench to list with this matter a public interest litigation filed by Sanatan Sangsad which seeks protection for EC officials.
The court agreed to list it on the next hearing on Monday along with Banerjee's plea.
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