Bengal SIR: SC to hear plea against EC freezing electoral rolls ahead of polls

The Supreme Court on Friday said that it will hear on Monday petitions challenging the freezing of the electoral rolls by the Election Commission, ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls in West Bengal, PTI reported.

On Thursday, the poll panel froze and finalised the voter lists for all Assembly seats in the state.

The elections in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 4.

After the special intensive revision of voter rolls, the Election Commission on February 28 published the final voter lists for West Bengal, showing that more than 61 lakh voters had been excluded.

However, the process continued, with about 60 lakh “doubtful and pending” cases under adjudication following objections to exclusions from the draft rolls published in December.

On February 20, the Supreme Court ordered that judicial officers of the rank of district judge or additional district judge be appointed to help complete the revision exercise in the state.

On March 10, the top court ordered the formation of appellate tribunals composed of former High Court chief justices and judges to hear appeals against exclusions. A person whose claim for inclusion in the electoral rolls had been rejected by a judicial officer could approach the tribunal.

With the rolls frozen on Thursday, no person whose...

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