The Supreme Court’s order on Monday effectively closed the door on lakhs of disenfranchised voters hoping to participate in the upcoming Assembly elections. Many such voters said they were “hurt” by the way the Election Commission sidelined them.
Instead of making arrangements to ensure that all cases before the tribunal were decided before the election, the apex court decided to shut the door on them, said one such voter.
“This order has shut the door on us. We have been disenfranchised twice, first by the Election Commission and now by this order,” said Supreme Court lawyer Gaurav Ghosh, whose name has been struck off the electoral rolls of the Rashbehari Assembly constituency.
“Instead of deferring the elections or making arrangements so the tribunals could cover the caseload before the polling day, the order paved the way for the elections without us taking part in it,” said Ghosh, 36.
He now lives in Delhi, but never missed voting in an election in Bengal.
Zaidul Haque, 60, of the Mograhat Purba Assembly constituency, said he was hurt. Haque questioned the need to set up the tribunals in such haste if they could not decide the cases before the elections.
“When the tribunals were set up, it was not mentioned that the appellants would not be able to vote in the upcoming Assembly elections. Why did we take so much trouble to file the appeals in such a short time if we are not allowed to vote?” he asked.
The Supreme Court, which heard the SIR case on Monday, noted that over 34 lakh appeals had been filed before the appellate tribunals.
The tribunals, which will hear the appeals, were notified on March 20.
A journalist, Haque was earlier nominated for the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), run by the US government. He went to the US on an Indian passport, but the same passport could not clear his name from the list of dubious voters.
Over 60.06 lakh people were put under adjudication. Of them, more than 27 lakh have been deleted from the rolls.
“It’s an error by the Election Commission, yet I’m the one being stripped of my right to vote,” Zaidul said. “The rest of my family — my wife, my three children, my brother, and his household — are all still on the list. How does that make any sense? What is the logic in removing just my name?”