NEW DELHI, Apr 24 : The Supreme Court on Friday declined to entertain a petition filed by several electoral duty officers whose names were deleted from the electoral rolls in West Bengal following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), even as they remain engaged in conducting the ongoing Assembly elections.
A Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi directed the petitioners to pursue their remedy before the Appellate Tribunals set up to examine grievances arising from exclusion from electoral rolls following the SIR process.
Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocate M.R. Shamshad pointed out the anomaly that around 65 officials deployed on election duty were themselves unable to vote, despite possessing EPIC numbers reflected in their duty orders. He argued that the deletions were arbitrary and carried out without issuing any prior notice.
The Bench said that the statutory mechanism of appeal was already in place. The petitioners informed the Court that appeals had been filed earlier this month but were yet to be taken up.
As court disposed of the petition, Justice Bagchi observed that appropriate orders would be passed by the tribunals and that, while the officers may not be able to vote in the present election, their more important right to remain on the electoral rolls would be preserved.
The first phase of polling concluded on Thursday (April 23), with the second phase scheduled for April 29.
The Court has earlier clarified that only those whose appeals are decided in their favour before the cut-off dates would be eligible to vote.
(UNI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
