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Appearing for Khatun, Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat said she had a passport, her name figured in the 2002 voters list, and she had been voting in all elections.(Express Photo by Partha Paul)
The woman for whom the Supreme Court on Monday sought an out-of-turn hearing so that she can vote in West Bengal Assembly elections had a valid passport since 2015, had her name in 2002 electors list, and had voted in all elections since then.
The woman, Monowara Khatun, 56, is a businessperson of repute, according to Advocate Ranjeeta Rohatgi, who filed the plea on Khatun’s behalf. Her name was struck off the voters’ list following the SIR exercise.
“The petitioner has already approached the Appellate Tribunal on April 3 being aggrieved by her exclusion [after] the SIR process. We request the Appellate Tribunal to accord an out-of-turn hearing to the petitioner’s appeal at the earliest,” a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said.
Appearing for Khatun, Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat said she had a passport, her name figured in the 2002 voters list, and she had been voting in all elections. Khatun, he said, had filed her appeal on April 3 but is yet to get a hearing.
In her plea, Khatun said she “is associated with various corporate entities” and is a director in Reliable FMS Private Limited, Sanchit Vinimay Private Limited and a Partner of Sanchit Vinimay LLP. One of the companies offers facility management services, according to the petition.
Khatun said she “has been wrongfully deleted or excluded from the electoral roll published on 27.03.2026 in spite of fulfilling all the criteria and the petitioner being a regular voter since 2002 having her name in the 2002 electoral roll and a valid Indian passport since 2015.”
She urged that her name be restored in the electoral roll of Satgachhia Assembly Constituency No.145, in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections “and/or, directions” be issued to “the Appellate Tribunal to consider” her case “immediately upon hearing” her appeal filed on April 3 “so that” she “is allowed to cast her vote in the upcoming Assembly election, the same being a statutory right.”
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