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The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain pleas of election duty officers seeking intervention on the alleged exclusion from the voter rolls amid the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal.
Counsel representing the petitioners informed the bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant that even persons engaged in election duty were being denied voting rights. "Please raise the problem before the Appellate Tribunal. We can't change our orders every day," said the CJI. Justice Joymalya Bagchi remarked that regardless of whether they will be able to vote this year or not, their more valuable right to remain on the rolls would be examined by the court. The total number of voters in West Bengal stands at 7,04,59,284 voters (7.04 crore) without adding the names under adjudication, as compared to 7,66,37,529 (7.66 crore) before the SIR exercise. This shows a change of more than 61 lakh names in the list. Reportedly, about 27 lakh names were deleted in the process of adjudication. Meanwhile, the polling for Phase I of the Assembly elections in West Bengal concluded at 6 pm on Thursday, with West Bengal recording a significantly higher voter turnout of 91.83 per cent, according to the Election Commission of India. The high turnout figures underline an active electoral exercise as polling drew to a close amid tight security arrangements across 152 of 294 constituencies. A key highlight was the leadership shown by women voters, who outpaced men. In West Bengal, women's turnout reached an unprecedented 92.69 per cent compared to 90.92 per cent for men. The Commission also noted significant participation from transgender persons, with 56.79 per cent turnout. The polling for the second phase will be held on April 29, with counting of votes scheduled for May 4. (ANI)
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