SC asks urgent hearing on SIR-related voter roll deletion in West Bengal

The Supreme Court on Monday (April 27) asked the appellate tribunal to accord an out-of-turn hearing of an appeal moved by a voter whose name was struck off the rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal.

The direction came from a bench led by Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi while hearing a petition seeking restoration of the man’s name in the electoral list for the Diamond Harbour constituency, where polling is underway.

The court was told that the first phase of polling in the state took place on April 23, with the next round slated for April 29. Counting is scheduled for May 4.

Petitioner already approached tribunal

Recording that the petitioner had already moved the appropriate forum earlier this month, the bench chose not to examine the matter on the merits at this stage.

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“The petitioner, being aggrieved by his exclusion from the voter list in the SIR process, is said to have already approached the appellate tribunal on April 2, 2026. We dispose of the instant writ petition with a request to the appellate tribunal to accord out-of-turn hearing and decide the petitioner's appeal at the earliest,” the bench said.

On April 24, the apex court asked the appellate tribunals to give out-of-turn hearing to those who make out a case of urgent hearing against deletion from electoral rolls after the SIR in West Bengal.

High turnout and batch of petitions

The CJI had expressed happiness over the high voter turnout in the first phase of the West Bengal assembly polls held on Thursday. The state registered a record voter turnout of 92.72 per cent in the first phase of voting for 152 constituencies.

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The bench was then hearing a batch of petitions, including the one filed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, related to the SIR of electoral rolls in the state.

Voting rights tied to tribunal decisions

Earlier, the top court ordered that persons whose pleas were allowed by the appellate tribunals before April 21 or 27 must be permitted to vote in the first or second phase of assembly elections, respectively.

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It, however, had clarified that mere pendency of an appeal before the appellate tribunals would not give anyone a right to vote.

Large-scale claims and tribunal setup

Approximately 700 judicial officers from West Bengal, neighbouring Odisha and Jharkhand were deployed to deal with around 60 lakh claims and objections of those who were deleted from voter lists during the SIR of electoral rolls in the state.

Later, the chief justice of Calcutta High Court, at the direction of the top court, set up as many as 19 tribunals headed by former high court chief justices and judges to decide appeals against the deletion of names from the voter lists.

(With agency inputs)