The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from the Election Commission on pleas filed by MPs from the Trinamool Congress alleging procedural irregularities during the special intensive revision of voter rolls in West Bengal, Live Law reported.
The counsel for the poll body sought two weeks to file its response. However, a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi granted only a week to the Election Commission.
The matter will be heard next on January 19.
The court was hearing petitions filed by Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen.
Appearing for O’Brien, advocate Kapil Sibal alleged before the court that booth-level officers were receiving directions on platforms like WhatsApp instead of through formal means, making it difficult to establish any audit trail of the process.
“The ECI cannot act arbitrarily, capriciously or dehors law, nor can it substitute legally prescribed and set procedures with ad hoc or informal mechanisms,” PTI quoted O’Brien as saying.
In her plea, Sen alleged that orders passed as part of the process were arbitrary and unconstitutional, thereby leading to the deletion of eligible voters, Live Law reported.
The state’s draft electoral rolls were published on December 16. It showed that more than 58 lakh voters were removed after being marked dead, shifted or absent.
The state’s chief electoral officer had…
Source: SC seeks EC response on Trinamool Congress MPs’ pleas alleging irregularities in West Bengal SIR
