The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up an oral request seeking an investigation into the addition of around 7 lakh new voters in West Bengal through Form-6.
The matter arises amid continuing controversy over the state’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, during which petitions have repeatedly been filed challenging both deletion and inclusion of names.
Earlier, while hearing related cases, the Supreme Court had constituted a tribunal under the supervision of the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. The tribunal was stated to examine not only deletions but also issues linked to additions, and large numbers of cases have been taken up for resolution.
Senior advocate and Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Menaka Guruswamy told a bench led by Chief Justice Suryakant that the Election Commission had allegedly carried out the additions on its own, despite the court’s earlier direction that changes should be made only with the tribunal’s approval.
However, the Chief Justice refused to examine the issue at that stage, stating that the court would consider it if a separate petition is filed. He also remarked that the volume of complaints and petitions from West Bengal appeared so large that it could warrant a dedicated bench.
