Overview
- The Supreme Court told a tribunal on Friday to give an out‑of‑turn hearing and to decide the appeal of 75‑year‑old Murshidabad lawyer Md. Yean Ali expeditiously, preferably within two months.
- Ali says his name was removed during the Special Intensive Revision of West Bengal's electoral rolls and that his appeal has been pending since March 27, 2026 without being taken up.
- The court noted that a system of appellate tribunals made up of former high court judges was created to hear SIR deletion appeals but that the Calcutta High Court has reported heavy pendency and asked for more time.
- The SIR exercise before April's Assembly polls removed tens of lakhs of names and produced more than 30 lakh appeals, which has strained tribunal capacity and left many voters with delayed remedies.
- The order signals active Supreme Court supervision to protect individual voting rights and could prompt tribunals to prioritise elderly or long‑standing voters while the wider backlog is being cleared.