The Supreme Court on Friday hailed the violence-free record voter turnout of more than 92 per cent in the first phase of Assembly election for 152 constituencies in West Bengal on April 23, saying it would strengthen democracy in the country.“As a citizen of India, I was very happy to see the voting percentage. When people exercise the right to vote, this strengthens the democratic set up,” a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said.The bench – which also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipin Pancholi – expressed satisfaction over the fact that the polls were conducted without any violence. “There has been no incident of violence also,” said Justice Bagchi.The top court’s comments came during hearing on petitions relating to 34 lakh of appeals against exclusion from electoral rolls pending before appellate tribunals after senior counsel Kalyan Banerjee talked about the record voter turnout in the first phase of Assembly election in the state.Banerjee, who is also a TMC MP, said Bengal voters came to vote from every corner of the country fearing that they might be removed from the electoral rolls if they didn’t cast their votes.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta also joined the bench in expressing happiness over the violence-free high voter turnout in the state infamous for electoral violence. “Ninety-two per cent is a historic voter turnout… I join Mr (Kalyan) Banerjee… It was a peaceful election leaving apart a few incidents,” Mehta said.The Solicitor General also commended the role of central forces in ensuring peaceful election.Banerjee said, “Only 136 appeals have been disposed of — out of 27 lakhs filed. This is very-very sad.”The CJI, however, asked the petitioners to approach the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice in this regard.The bench also refused to entertain pleas filed by several individuals from West Bengal, including 65 persons on election duty, against deletion of their names from the voter list during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.It asked them to approach the 19 appellate tribunals constituted to decide appeals against the deletion or exclusion of names from the voter list.“You have to raise these arguments before the (appellate) tribunal,” it told a lawyer representing the petitioners.Pointing out that 65 of the petitioners were on election duty in the state, the lawyer said, “The order issued for election duty mentioned EPIC (Electors Photo Identity Card) number, which was deleted subsequently. Now, the people on election duty cannot vote. This, on the face of it, is arbitrary,” as no show-cause notices were issued to the petitioners.The counsel argued that the petitioners have already filed their appeals before the appellate tribunal.“Appropriate orders will be passed by the appellate tribunal,” it said, adding “We will examine the more valuable right to remain on the rolls.”