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Bengal SIR: Tribunal orders Cong candidate's name to be reinstated in supplementary roll

Kolkata, April 5 (PTI) Congress candidate Mohtab Sheikh, whose name was earlier put under the adjudication cases column of the final electoral roll on February 28, was a happy man Sunday evening after a tribunal ordered that his name be reinstated. A relieved Sheikh told mediapersons, "Justice has finally been delivered. My name has been cleared and restored, and I can now proceed with filing my nomination." This was apparently the first such ruling by any tribunal involving a candidate to resolve an ongoing adjudication case due to "logical discrepancy", an Election Commission (EC) official said. In the significant development, the tribunal headed by former Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, T S Sivagnanam, directed that the name of the Congress nominee from Farakka in Murshidabad district be restored to the voter list. Sheikh said, "My name had been struck off during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, preventing me from filing nomination despite being officially nominated by my party. Now I feel vindicated that the judiciary has restored my right as a citizen of the country." This is the first verdict involving a poll candidate delivered by any SIR appellate tribunal which were constituted to adjudicate cases involving logical discrepancies in voter data, mostly due to a mismatch with the father's name, spelling or middle name, etc., the official said. The EC had published the final electoral roll on February 28, with lakhs of voters marked as "under adjudication." Acting on directions from the Supreme Court of India, judicial officers began verifying and resolving these cases in phases. The apex court had also allowed affected individuals to approach designated tribunals if their names were excluded. Sheikh, whose name was missing from the rolls, initially faced hurdles as the tribunals had not begun functioning. "This prevented me from filing nomination papers. I subsequently moved to the Supreme Court, which directed expeditious disposal of his plea and allowed me to approach a tribunal led by a former high court judge. I am relieved now," he said. At the tribunal in Salt Lake's Bijon Bhavan, Sheikh had submitted multiple identity documents, including Aadhaar, passport, driving licence, and his child's birth certificate, all bearing his name. His counsel argued that the discrepancy cited by authorities related to his father's name and did not affect his own identity. Accepting this argument, the tribunal observed that while there may have been a "data inconsistency" in his father's details, there was no valid ground to exclude him from the voter list. It directed that his name be reinstated in the supplementary roll on Sunday night. Earlier, Sheikh had approached the Calcutta High Court, which declined to hear the matter, noting that all SIR-related cases fall under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. With the first phase of polling in Farakka approaching and the last date for filing nominations set for April 6, the tribunal's order clears the way for Sheikh to contest the election. PTI SUS HIG OZ OZ

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