- The Supreme Court denied interim voting rights for those removed in voter roll clean-up
- Trinamool Congress cited 1.6 million pending appeals seeking voting rights in upcoming election
- Chief Justice Surya Kant ruled allowing votes would suspend voting rights of others involved
The Supreme Court has declined to grant interim voting rights to those whose names were deleted during the voter roll clean-up process special intensive revision (SIR) and whose appeals are still pending before the appellate tribunals.
During the proceedings, Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee said that at least 1.6 million appeals have been filed, and they should be allowed to vote in the two-phase assembly election due later this month.
In response, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said, "That is entirely out of the question. If we were to permit this, then the voting rights of the individuals involved would have to be suspended."
Justice Joymalya Bagchi said there are 3.4 million appeals in the SIR exercise, and added that a report submitted by the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice clearly stated this data.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has already frozen the Bengal voter list and no new name can be included before the election, unless the Supreme Court gives a specific direction on this count, which did not happen today.Nineteen appellate tribunals have been set up in the state bordering Bangladesh to decide the fate of 27 lakh cases that have been deleted in the judicial adjudication cases.
The Supreme Court's order came after a group of 13 people sought its intervention in the deletion of their names from the Bengal voter list. The court called the petition "premature" and told them to go to the appellate tribunals instead.
"Since the petitioners (Quaraisha Yeasmin and others) have already approached the appellate tribunals… in our considered view, the apprehensions expressed in the petition are premature. If the plea is allowed, then necessary consequences will follow," the bench said in its order, adding that it has not expressed any views on the merits of the plea.
The petition alleged that the Election Commission was summarily deleting names without following due process, and that appeals against these deletions were not being heard in a timely manner.
Senior lawyer DS Naidu, appearing for the EC, said there are approximately 30-34 lakh appeals pending.
The petitioners, however, said the EC didn't give orders before the relevant judicial authorities and the "freezing date" for the electoral rolls should be extended. "If I am not allowed to argue, then what is the use? Will these appeals be decided within a timeframe or just kept extending?" their lawyer said.
Justice Bagchi referred to the sanctity of the electoral process and said, "The right to vote in a country you were born in is not just constitutional, but sentimental. It is about being part of a democracy and helping elect a government."
He, however, said that the tribunals manned by former judges cannot be overburdened by fixing the timelines for adjudications. "It is not the end justifying the means, but the means justifying the end," Justice Bagchi said. "We need to protect due process rights. The voter should not be sandwiched between two constitutional authorities."
With inputs from PTI
