Ahead of today’s SIR hearing, Mamata Banerjee asks Supreme Court to halt voter deletions in West Bengal

Ahead of today's hearing before Supreme Court in the case concerning special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has sought urgent directions from the Supreme Court to halt deletion of voters from the electoral rolls.

She has flagged an imminent threat of large scale voter disenfranchisement during the ongoing SIR in the State.

In an interlocutory application moved late last night, Banerjee has stated that with the final electoral roll due on February 14, over 60 lakh hearings remain pending, with barely four days left for their completion.

She has alleged that despite an assurance given by the ECI to the Supreme Court on January 19 that name mismatch cases would not require mandatory hearings, the poll body subsequently issued circulars making such hearings compulsory even for minor discrepancies.

According to the application, thousands of cases were thereafter reclassified as “Logical Discrepancy”, and lists of “Logical Discrepancy” and “Unmapped” electors were published without disclosing reasons or a clear hearing schedule.

She is set to appear before the top court in person today and argue the case herself.

What is Banerjee seeking?

Banerjee has sought the following directions from the Court:

- She has prayed that no voter already mapped with the 2002 electoral roll and appearing in the draft electoral roll under the “Logical Discrepancy” category is deleted, and that while anomalies may be rectified, no such voter should be disenfranchised.

- Mandatory hearings be withdrawn in all cases, and written instructions be issued that name mismatches or spelling variations falling under the “Logical Discrepancy” category, stated to constitute more than 50 percent or about 70 lakh cases, shall not be called for hearing and may be corrected suo moto on available records or Aadhaar.

- The Election Commission disclose, at all levels where such lists have been published, the reasons for voters being marked under the “Logical Discrepancy” category and the schedule of their hearings.

- All Micro Observers appointed without statutory authority be withdrawn, and that they be restrained from interfering with the statutory functioning of Electoral Registration Officers and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers.

- Micro Observers be restrained from exercising any statutory power, including participation in hearings or verification, and that all such steps taken by them till date be declared invalid.

- The procedure for disposal of cases by local or field inquiry under Clause 5(a) and 5(b) of the Election Commission’s orders be followed, with necessary changes made to the online portal to enable EROs to close cases based on their own assessment.

- Aadhaar, Permanent Residence Certificates, Panchayat Residence Certificates, Family Registers, Socio Economic Caste Census data, land or house allotment certificates and other documents issued by competent State authorities be accepted.

- Procedures and methods be communicated to election officials through official channels and not informal means such as WhatsApp.

Banerjee has contended that unless immediate directions are issued, lakhs of genuine voters stand to be disenfranchised before the final roll is published, irreversibly prejudicing electors’ rights and undermining the conduct of free and fair elections.