West Bengal SIR | Supreme Court Asks INC Candidate Deleted From Electoral Roll To Approach Appellate Tribunal

The Supreme Court today allowed one Motab Shaikh, seeking to contest the upcoming West Bengal Assembly Elections on Indian National Congress' ticket, to approach the recently formed Appellate Tribunal in Kolkata against his deletion from the electoral roll after SIR exercise.

A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi heard the matter.

Briefly put, the petitioner approached the Court aggrieved by his inclusion in the 'Adjudication Deletion List' resulting in deletion from the electoral roll. He sought restoration of his name to the electoral roll and permission to file nomination papers as an INC candidate in the State's Assembly Elections. The petitioner also prayed for immediate operationalization of the Appellate Tribunals with proper online and offline mechanism enabling filing of appeals with relevant material.

Noting that the Appellate Tribunals have become functional beginning today, pursuant to the Court's orders in the main West Bengal SIR matter, the bench suggested that the petitioner avail his remedy before a designated Appellate Tribunal.

Orally, Justice Bagchi asked Senior Advocate DS Naidu, for ECI, to make efforts to ensure that the petitioner's case is resolved before the next date of hearing in the main matter (April 6). The judge also highlighted that the petitioner has a passport and asked the ECI to look into the same.

On a specific query, the bench was also informed during the hearing that the petitioner was a mapped voter. Senior Advocate Naidu also conceded that the petitioner may approach the Appellate Tribunal, where ECI would assist, and if there's a genuine case, the issue would be resolved in no time.

The order was dictated by the CJI thus: "In view of our order passed yesterday, in terms of which Appellate Tribunals have become functional, we permit the petitioner to approach Appellate Tribunal headed by Justice TS Sivagnanam, former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court. We request Hon'ble Presiding Judge of the Appellate Tribunal to entertain and decide the appeal with the assistance of ECI, preferably by the forenoon of 06.04.2026".

Senior Advocate Rauf Rahim appeared for the petitioner.

Yesterday, in the main West Bengal SIR matter, the bench allowed the Appellate Tribunals hearing appeals against exclusions from West Bengal's electoral rolls to entertain fresh documents subject to verification. Notably, Justice Bagchi orally commented during the hearing that the inclusion of a person in the electoral roll through Form 6 (registration form for new voter) will not give them a right to vote in the present assembly election, if such inclusion is after the 'qualifying date' notified by the Election Commission.

Case Title: MOTAB SHAIKH Versus THE ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(C) No. 399/2026