The Election Commission of India (EC) has informed the Supreme Court that over 37 lakh of a total 38 lakh appeals arising out of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal are still pending in 19 Tribunals. The EC said that only 1,02,231 appeals have been disposed of so far.
The EC affidavit covers appeals across 24 districts in West Bengal. It said 38,20,683 appeals were submitted regarding both inclusions and exclusions of voters from the West Bengal electoral roll during the SIR exercise. The number of appeals pending is 37,184,52. On August 28, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Neha Rathi, appearing for petitioner Prasenjit Bose, chairperson of the SIR Committee, West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, had banked on a Right to Information (RTI) response they got from the election authorities to flag the issue of pendency of the 38-odd lakh appeals. The petitioner side had further pointed out that only seven lakh of these 38 lakh appeals were filed by disenfranchised voters. The remaining 31 lakh appeals, were filed by either the Election Commission or other objectors to exclude more people from the West Bengal electoral roll, Mr.
Over six months have passed since the Supreme Court constituted the Appellate Tribunals. The Municipal elections in the State are drawing near even as voters’ fate remains in limbo. Sankaranarayanan had submitted. The Court had directed the Election Commission (EC) to file an affidavit segregating the exact number of appeals filed by ousted voters seeking re-inclusion into the West Bengal electoral roll, and others wanting more voters to be excluded from the roll.
“Give us the data. Give us the breakup of the nature of appeals filed, whether inclusion or exclusion. Then, we will make a call as to whether appeals by disenfranchised voters seeking re-inclusion should be prioritised… Their exclusion from the electoral roll denudes them of their voting rights,” Justice Joymalya Bagchi, part of a Bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, had observed. Keeping the Municipal polls in mind, Mr. Sankaranarayanan had argued in August that the court must direct the tribunals to give priority to appeals filed by disenfranchised voters.
