The Supreme Court on Friday directed the SIR tribunals in Bengal to “expeditiously” hear the appeal of Mohd Yean Ali, 75, against his exclusion from the voter list, underlining he had been a lawyer for nearly 50 years and appeared a “bona fide citizen” and a five-decade voter.

Ali said he had moved the tribunal on March 23. Murshidabad, where he lives, voted exactly a month later on April 23. It was not clear if the tribunal had heard Ali.

The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice V. Mohana took the prima facie view that Ali appeared to be a “bona fide citizen”, and noted that proceedings before the 19 appellate tribunals had been delayed.

The court urged the tribunal to dispose of Ali’s case “preferably within two months”.

CJI Kant said the chief justice of Calcutta High Court had sent a request on Thursday night to extend the deadline for the tribunals to deal with the appeals against SIR deletions.

CJI Kant added that he was considering the plea.

The apex court had fixed April 21 and 27 as the last dates for deciding the appeals, respectively, for the April 23 and 29 phases of the Bengal Assembly elections.

As the court has passed no further orders since then, the high court chief justice has sought a fresh deadline as a formal requirement.

“See, prima facie we are agreeing with you that you appear to be a bona fide citizen…. But you are aware that a mechanism (tribunals) has been created, which comprises former chief justices and judges of various high courts,” Justice Kant told the counsel appearing for the petitioner.

Ali says he has been enrolled with the West Bengal Bar Council since 1977 and has been a voter in the state for over five decades.

Justice Kant later dictated the following order: “…The petitioner is stated to be a practising advocate in Murshidabad, West Bengal, since 1977. His name has been deleted from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) conducted in West Bengal.

“The aggrieved petitioner has filed an appeal before the Appellate Tribunal constituted by this Court through a judicial order dated 10.03.2026. Since his appeal has notbeen decided so far, the petitioner has approached this Court.

“Having regard to the nature of relief sought in the instant petition, we deem it appropriate to dispose of the same with a request to the Appellate Tribunal, where the petitioner’s appeal is pending, to decide the same expeditiously and preferably within two months.”

On March 10, the apex court had asked Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul to constitute special appellate tribunals to examine appeals against SIR deletions.