Supreme Court SIR Hearing Live Updates: When people realise power of vote they shun violence, says CJI

Justice Joymalya Bagchi also said that another significant aspect of the elections was the absence of violence.

The CJI added that when people realise their power in a democracy through the power of the vote and follow the rule of law, they do not indulge in violence.

“People realise their power in a democracy their power of vote and they follow the rule of law…then they don’t indulge in violence,” CJI said.

Senior Advocate Kalyan Banerjee submitted that a major fear in the minds of voters was that if they did not cast their vote, they might lose their right to do so. Justice Bagchi observed that the democratic process is something that must be respected, else the essence of democracy would be lost.

“We have seen that democratic process is something which must be respected otherwise essence of democracy will be lost,” Justice Bagchi said.

During the hearing today, the court also granted more time to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to file chargesheet in the matter related to gherao of judicial officers deployed for adjudication of voter claims and objections.

Election officers plea: Earlier today, Senior Advocate MR Shamshad, appeared today on behalf of several election officers on duty who are unable to vote in the ongoing elections. He submitted that the 65 petitioners were all on election duty and had been issued orders referring to their EPIC numbers. However, he argued that those EPIC numbers had subsequently been deleted, resulting in the petitioners, who were themselves involved in conducting elections, being deprived of their right to vote.

Shamshad contended that the action was arbitrary and further pointed out that many of the petitioners had not been issued show cause notices, despite such notice being a statutory requirement.

In response, the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant observed that the petitioners should raise these arguments before the appellate tribunal, with the bench indicating that appropriate orders could be passed there. Justice Bagchi added that the more valuable right to remain on the electoral rolls would be examined.

Report from Calcutta HC: The top court had earlier said that it will seek a report from the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice on the appellate tribunals set up to hear appeals of those excluded from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The directive came from a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi after Senior Advocate Devdutta Kamat contended in court that the Tribunals were “not functioning”, and that they were only “accepting internet and computer-based applications” while not permitting lawyers of applicants at the hearings. On April 13, the Supreme Court, exercising its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, allowed voters cleared by Appellate Tribunals to vote in the West Bengal elections, provided their appeals are decided before April 21 and 27, respectively, for the first and second phases.

Suo motu case: On April 6, Supreme Court had pulled up the West Bengal’s chief secretary and the Director General of Police over their conduct while hearing the suo motu case involving gherao of judicial officers in Malda district. It had slammed the state administration over violence against judicial officers deputed in Malda district to decide cases flagged for logical discrepancies in the SIR. The court had ordered a probe by the CBI or NIA into the incident.