Supreme Court of India on Friday asked the appellate tribunals to give an out-of-turn hearing to those who make out a case of urgent hearing for addition in voter lists after the Special Intensive Revision of rolls in West Bengal. At the start of the hearing, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant expressed happiness over the high voter turnout in the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly polls held yesterday. The state registered a record voter turnout of 92.72 per cent in the first phase of assembly polls for 152 constituencies.
“As a citizen of India, I was very happy to see the voting percentage. When people exercise the right to vote, this strengthens the democratic setup,” the CJI said.
The bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, was hearing a batch of petitions, including the one filed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, related to the SIR of electoral rolls in the state.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta also hailed the high voter turnout, besides commending the role of central forces in ensuring peaceful elections in the state, which has a history of violence-hit elections in the past.
The top court also asked the persons excluded from the voter lists to approach the court-appointed 19 appellate tribunals for redressal of pending issues, including the deletion of names from the voters list.
It asked the appellate tribunals to give an out-of-turn hearing to those who make out a case of urgent hearing for addition in voter lists.
The bench said it will examine the more valuable right to remain on the electoral rolls later.
Senior advocate and TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee also hailed the record voter turn in the first phase of assembly elections and said they came out from every corner of the country to vote, fearing that they may be removed from the electoral rolls if they fail to cast it this time.
He also referred to the fact that so far, only 139 claims or appeals of those who have been deleted from the voter lists have been decided by the appellate tribunals. There are 27 lakh such people waiting for the hearing, he added.
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