SC Allows Persons Excluded From Bengal SIR to Vote if Appeals Allowed by Appellate Tribunals Before April 21/27

The top court added that it goes without saying that the mere pendency of appeals preferred by excluded persons before the Appellate Tribunals shall not entitle them to exercise their right.

The Wire Staff

The top court added that it goes without saying that the mere pendency of appeals preferred by excluded persons before the Appellate Tribunals shall not entitle them to exercise their right.

sc allows persons excluded from bengal sir to vote if appeals allowed by appellate tribunals before april 21 27

The Supreme Court. Photo: The Wire.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has invoked Article 142 over the West Bengal Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and has directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to issue a supplementary revised electoral role for those persons whose appeals are allowed by Appellate Tribunals by April 21 (for first phase) and April 27 (for second phase) so that they can vote.

So far 27 lakh people have been excluded from electoral rolls in West Bengal following the SIR.

“We, therefore, invoke our powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India and direct the ECI that, wherever the Appellate Tribunals are able to decide the appeals by 21.04.2026 or 27.04.2026, as the case may be, such appellate orders shall be given effect to by issuing a supplementary revised electoral roll, and all necessary consequences with respect to the right to vote shall follow,” the Supreme Court said in its order, reported Bar and Bench.

The top court added that it goes without saying that the mere pendency of appeals preferred by excluded persons before the Appellate Tribunals shall not entitle them to exercise their right.

If such a scenario were to be permitted to subsist, the consequence would be that objectors may likewise seek denial of the right to vote to those individuals whose names appear in the revised electoral roll, but against whom such objectors have preferred appeals. The resultant situation would effectively recreate the very state of affairs that existed prior to the entrustment of the verification exercise to the Judicial Officers,” the Supreme Court has stated in its order.

“This, in our considered view, cannot be permitted, particularly when Judicial Officers from the State of West Bengal, duly assisted by Judicial Officers from the States of Jharkhand and Odisha, have completed what can only be described as a truly herculean task,” the top court said in its order.

This article went live on April sixteenth, two thousand twenty six, at forty-two minutes past five in the evening.

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