West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 | SC refuses voting rights to those excluded from electoral rolls amid pending appeals

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to permit those individuals excluded from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision to cast their votes in the West Bengal assembly elections while their appeals remained pending before appellate tribunals.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said, ''where is the question of voting and those have been allowed then we should stay that also."

However, the court opined that it might consider the plea to allow the publication of supplementary rolls to include persons whose appeals are allowed before the assembly elections.

Senior advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, representing one of the petitioners who challenged SIR in West Bengal, said an impression has been given that all pending cases have been adjudicated. "On April 6, the voter list has been published in Raghunathganj constituency…all are under adjudication," he said. 

The bench noted that the list has only over 1800 voters. Bandyopadhyay said this is the first phase, and this one case has come to his knowledge, stressing that the case under adjudication is still pending.

The bench said that the persons whose claims were adjudicated by April 9, the date when the rolls were frozen, can vote on April 23.

"In 153 constituencies, the last date of nomination was April 6, and the list was published on the night of April 6. There was some spill over on April 7 or 8. Those names will be included in the electoral roll for the April 23 election, don't worry if their names are there, they will be voting,” the bench said.

It was argued that 16 Lakhs appeals have been filed and it is not possible to dispose of these appeals. 

The bench, however, noted that as per the High Court's Chief Justice’s report as of April 11, there were over 34 Lakh appeals.

"55% objections rejected. They have been included. The objectors have gone in appeal…they will ask for the same order. Therefore, we will get back to the same position before the appointment of the judicial officers," the bench said.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan on behalf of the petitioners argued that if the appellate tribunals ,which have just started functioning, show substantial progress over the next week, then surely some supplementary list can be allowed. 

Senior advocate D S Naidu for the EC contended that let the appeals go on so that they have their right vindicated if at all they could. Bandyopadhyay said April 23 is the first election day and all those appeals pertaining to the first phase could be disposed of as far as possible by April 20.

The bench said it cannot create a situation where appellate tribunal judges are burdened.

"There is an application wherever objections are rejected, and we have gone in appeal, don't allow them to vote. The same analogy can apply there; we have to balance," the bench said.

Bandyopadhyay said that the people of Bengal are looking towards the top court for relief. He said, "deprivations are so much, 34 lakh appellants, they are genuine voters, that is the reason 34 Lakhs, they are looking towards you not the EC".

Meanwhile, in a connected suo motu matter, the National Investigation Agency submitted a status report in connection with its probe into the gherao of judicial officers in Malda district on April 1 by those protesting their deletion from the voter list. The bench asked the agency to inform it about the political background of the accused persons.

"We want to know if any of these people arrested had any political background. We don't want this to be an academic exercise. This has to be taken to a logical conclusion," the bench said.