Art Legacy Faces Voting Rights Battle in West Bengal

The Supreme Court has directed the 88-year-old grandson of prominent artist Nandalal Bose to approach the Appellate Tribunal following his unjust removal from the voters' list in West Bengal. This oversight occurred during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, a crucial process before upcoming state elections.

Nandalal Bose, renowned for his contributions to modern Indian art, notably illustrated the original manuscript of the Constitution and created the iconic Haripura posters. The bench, led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi, learned about the situation through the representation of senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, who emphasized the deprivation of fundamental voting rights to one of the Constitution's illustrator's descendants.

To address this grievance, the court has allowed the petitioner's appeal to be heard by the Appellate Tribunal. The Election Commission, through senior advocate D S Naidu, pledged full cooperation with the tribunal to expedite a resolution. In a related matter, on April 2, the court also permitted Motab Shaikh, a potential Congress candidate, to contest his deletion from the electoral rolls in the tribunal.