NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea by around 65 West Bengal election duty officers alleging deletion of their names from electoral rolls after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi, said that the petitioners should first approach the Appellate Tribunals constituted to deal with disputes arising out of the SIR process.
The plea, filed by Md Tohidul Islam and others, contended that the petitioners — many of whom were appointed as Presiding Officers and First Polling Officers for the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 — had their names “arbitrarily and erroneously” deleted from the final electoral roll, thereby violating their constitutional right to vote under Article 326.
According to the petition, the affected officials were formally deployed on election duty under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and were entitled to cast their votes through postal ballots under Rule 18A of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
However, the deletion of their names from the rolls rendered them ineligible even for this facility, leading to “complete disenfranchisement”. (IANS)
Also Read: Those who believe they can run Bengal from Delhi are deeply mistaken: CM Mamata Banerjee