New Delhi, March 24 The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked litigants, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, to approach the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court with their grievances related to the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
Referring to the controversial SIR process in West Bengal, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the exercise had been conducted smoothly across the country, except in this state.
"There is hardly any litigation (in other states) now. I think there are states where, after the SIR, the (exclusion) rate is higher," the CJI said.
Hearing a batch of petitions, the bench said that several issues raised were administrative in nature and should be addressed by the Calcutta High Court.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the chief minister, referred to the court's March 10 order that had laid down a framework for handling claims and objections arising from the revision process.
He flagged issues relating to timelines, noting that electoral rolls are required to be frozen seven days prior to polling, and submitted that several candidates whose names were under adjudication may be unable to file nominations within stipulated deadlines.
The bench, however, said that most of these concerns fell within the administrative domain.
"These are issues which can be taken up before the Chief Justice of the High Court," the CJI said, adding that the apex court had already entrusted supervision of logistical aspects to the Calcutta High Court.
Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee said the complete supplementary list of voters was yet to be made available, and suggested that soft copies be provided to political parties to facilitate scrutiny.
Senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, appearing for the poll panel, said the Election Commission was willing to publish supplementary lists on a daily basis.
The court also took note of submissions seeking extension of timelines for freezing electoral rolls and said it may consider it.
Highlighting the scale of the exercise, the CJI said that over two lakh objections were currently being adjudicated by judicial officers working continuously.
In its March 10 order, the Supreme Court had issued a fresh set of directions to streamline the SIR exercise in West Bengal.
It directed the creation of independent appellate tribunals headed by former High Court judges to hear appeals against exclusion from voter lists.
Further, the court had cautioned against attempts to undermine the role of judicial officers, terming such actions as detrimental to the integrity of the process.