A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi agreed to hear the petitions on Tuesday — March 10 — along with the main West Bengal SIR matter, after Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy mentioned the issue and urged the Bench to take up the petitions together with the main matter listed for hearing tomorrow (on Tuesday).
Senior party leaders said a memorandum had been submitted to the Commission seeking the completion of the adjudication process for more than 60 lakh electors before the start of any election process in the state.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state government, raised the issue through an urgent mentioning.
The fresh directions were issued after the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court informed the apex court that around 250 District and Additional District Judges had been assigned the task of examining nearly 50 lakh claims and objections
Exercising its authority under Section 13CC of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the Commission ordered the suspension of the officials and directed the Chief Secretary of West Bengal to promptly initiate disciplinary proceedings against them.
In a formal communication to the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal, the ECI conveyed the Supreme Court’s order and emphasised strict compliance with the court's instructions. T
In a reply filed through counsel before the Court of Special Judge (CBI) Vishal Gogne, she has contested the allegations relating to her alleged inclusion in the electoral rolls prior to acquiring Indian citizenship and sought dismissal of the revision petition.
These constituencies are largely spread across three election districts—minority-dominated Malda, coastal South 24 Parganas, and Kolkata (North).
As over 3.26 crore voters would receive notices regarding their inclusion in the voter list, the ECI has extended the time for claims and objections from February to March 6.
Briefing meetings were held in three batches on Thursday and Friday at the ECI for 1444 officers, including 714 general observers, 233 police observers and 497 expenditure observers for the Assembly polls in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
