New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined a request to advance the hearing of pleas concerning pending appeals arising from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, with bypolls due in 2 Assembly constituencies on October 6.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said the matter would be heard on October 5.
The request for an earlier hearing was made after the case, which was earlier expected to be heard on September 29, was tentatively listed for October 5. Counsel told the bench that the October 6 bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar made an earlier hearing necessary.
The lawyer submitted that more than 18,000 appeals concerning the exclusion of names from the electoral rolls remained pending before appellate tribunals constituted pursuant to the Supreme Court's directions. The counsel said some of the affected voters had been unable to participate in the earlier elections and could face the possibility of missing another opportunity to vote.
The counsel therefore sought a hearing before the October 6 polls.
The CJI, however, declined to advance the matter and said it would be taken up on October 5. The hearing date therefore falls a day before voting in the 2 constituencies.
SIR appeal backlog
The 18,000-plus figure cited in Monday's hearing should be distinguished from the overall backlog of appeals arising from the Bengal SIR exercise.
In an affidavit before the Supreme Court earlier this month, the Election Commission of India said 38,20,683 appeals had been filed against orders relating to the SIR. Of these, 1,02,231 had been disposed of, leaving 37,18,452 pending at that stage. The EC also sought an increase in the number of appellate tribunals to speed up disposal.
The figure cited by counsel on Monday related specifically to appeals concerning the exclusion of names and the voters said to be affected by those pending cases; it should not therefore be presented as the total number of SIR appeals pending across West Bengal.
October 6 bypolls
The bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar are scheduled for October 6, with counting due on October 9. The Election Commission announced the schedule earlier this month.
The Nandigram bypoll was necessitated after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari vacated the seat, while the Rejinagar election followed the resignation of Humayun Kabir from that constituency after he retained another seat in the 2026 Assembly elections.
The Supreme Court's October 5 hearing will therefore take place immediately before polling in the 2 constituencies.
(With inputs from agencies)
