37 lakh Bengal SIR appeals pending, EC seeks more tribunals to clear backlog
In its affidavit before the Supreme Court, the Election Commission has proposed one appellate tribunal for each of West Bengal's 42 parliamentary constituencies to streamline and expedite the disposal of pending SIR appeals.
The Election Commission has asked the Supreme Court to increase the number of tribunals hearing appeals arising from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, saying the existing mechanism needs to be expanded to deal with the massive backlog.
In its affidavit before the Supreme Court, the poll panel has proposed one appellate tribunal for each of West Bengal's 42 parliamentary constituencies to streamline and expedite the disposal of pending appeals.
The EC's data shows that 38.31 lakh appeals have been filed before the tribunals against the inclusion or exclusion of names from the electoral rolls. Of these, more than 37 lakh remain pending.
Of the total appeals, 22.21 lakh were filed by voters whose names were deleted during the SIR and who are seeking their inclusion in the electoral rolls. Another 16.10 lakh appeals challenge the inclusion of names in the rolls.
The figures show the scale of the backlog before the 19 tribunals currently handling the appeals. The Commission has therefore proposed increasing their number to 42, corresponding to the number of parliamentary constituencies in the state.
OVER 1 LAKH VOTERS ADDED BACK
The EC's affidavit said 1,26,194 appeals had been decided by the tribunals, with 1,13,943 people subsequently added back to the electoral rolls.
More than 90 per cent of the appeals decided so far have resulted in the names being restored, according to the data submitted by the poll panel.
The Commission has also disputed claims that the SIR-related deletions affected the outcome of the West Bengal Assembly elections.
Responding to the argument that deletions exceeded victory margins in several constituencies, the EC said the claim ignored entries categorised as "absent, shifted, dead and duplicate".
The poll panel said the comparison between the number of deletions and election victory margins was a "flawed, speculative yardstick". It also pointed out that in several constituencies, including seats won by Trinamool Congress candidates, the number of deletions under adjudication exceeded the victory margin.
The EC argued that applying the same yardstick would require questioning the results of constituencies won by TMC candidates as well.
The Supreme Court had earlier directed the Election Commission to provide data on the pendency and disposal of appeals and explain what steps were being taken to streamline their disposal. The court had also said the appeals needed to be adjudicated in a time-bound manner.
The appellate tribunals were set up following the Supreme Court's directions, with former high court chief justices and judges heading the panels.
Around 700 judicial officers from West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand had earlier been deployed to deal with the claims and objections arising from the SIR exercise.