New Delhi, Nov 10 (IANS) A day before the Supreme Court is slated to hear a clutch of pleas filed against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, the Congress’s West Bengal unit has requested a joint hearing on its PIL against the similar exercise ordered by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the state.

The plea was mentioned on Monday before a bench headed by Justice Surya Kant, which is already seized of the Bihar SIR matter.

Appearing for the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC), counsel requested that the petition be taken up on Tuesday, along with the Bihar SIR case.

“The Bihar matter is listed tomorrow. We want the matter listed tomorrow with the Bihar SIR case,” the counsel submitted, adding that the party had been approached by several citizens alleging serious lapses in the ongoing revision exercise.

However, Justice Surya Kant clarified that the listing of the West Bengal matter would be subject to the approval of the Chief Justice of India (CJI), who is the master of the roster.

“It is up to the CJI to decide whether the West Bengal matter will also come before us,” the Justice Surya Kant-led Bench observed.

When the counsel pointed out that petitions against SIR in Tamil Nadu are already scheduled for hearing on Tuesday, Justice Surya Kant, agreeing to have the West Bengal petition tagged along, subject to the CJI’s orders, said: “Alright, we will find out.”

The West Bengal plea comes amid mounting legal challenges across states to the ECI’s October 27 directive extending the SIR exercise — first launched in Bihar earlier this year — to multiple states, including Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Kerala, and Uttar Pradesh.

On Friday, CJI B.R. Gavai had agreed to hear on November 11 a writ petition filed by Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK seeking quashing of the SIR order. The party has contended that the ECI’s move amounts to a “colourable exercise of power” and effectively creates a “de facto NRC” by imposing citizenship-like burdens of proof on registered voters.

In Bihar, where the SIR is underway, petitioners have cited large-scale deletions from electoral rolls, with figures showing that over 65 lakh names were removed during the verification process.

–IANS

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