SIR: SC asks Bengal tribunals to accord urgent hearing on pleas against deletion from voter list

New Delhi, April 24: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the appellate tribunals to give out-of-turn hearing to those who make out a case of urgent hearing against deletion from 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 West Bengal assembly polls held on Thursday.
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.
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 out-of-turn hearing to those who make out a case of urgent hearing for addition in voter lists.
On the issue of exclusion or inclusion in the voter lists, the CJI also granted the liberty to aggrieved persons to also approach the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice on the administrative as well as judicial side for redressal of grievances.
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 elections respectively.
It, however, had clarified that mere pendency of appeal before the appellate tribunals would not give anyone a right to vote. (PTI)