Kolkata, April 13 (IANS) Amid the crucial two-phase West Bengal Assembly elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be holding five back-to-back campaign programmes in the state on Monday.

First, he will address two public meetings in Birbhum district, the first at Sainthia at noon and the second at Khayrasole at 1.15 p.m.

Thereafter, at 2.35 p.m., he will address another public meeting in Raniganj, West Burdwan district. Again at 4 p.m., he will be participating in a roadshow at the steel city of Durgapur, also in the West Burdwan district.

His programmes for the day in the state will end with an organisational meeting at Durgapur at 8 p.m., which he will chair.

HM Shah’s packed schedule for the day coincides with a crucial hearing at the Supreme Court on Monday of the just-concluded Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state. The apex court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant is expected to take the final decision on whether 27 lakh names, which were deleted in the course of the judicial adjudication process, would be able to vote or not in the two-phase polls on April 23 and April 29.

The hearing will start at 2.30 p.m. Already, the voters’ list in West Bengal for the two phases of polls has been frozen by the Election Commission of India (ECI), and legally, no new name can be included in the list before the polls unless the Supreme Court gives a specific direction on this count.

Already, 19 Appellate Tribunals have been set up in West Bengal to decide the fate of 27 lakh cases that have been deleted in the judicial adjudication cases. Now, whether the names among these 27 lakh cases, which will be cleared by the Appellate Tribunals, will be able to vote or not in the Assembly elections this month will depend on the Supreme Court’s decision in the matter.

On the other hand, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be addressing three back-to-back public meetings at Suri in Birbhum district, Ausgram in East Burdwan district, and Durgapur in East Burdwan district.

Similarly, Trinamool Congress General Secretary and the party’s Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee, will address public rallies one after another at Karimpur and Ranaghat in Nadia district and Baduria in North 24 Parganas district.

–IANS

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