West Bengal SIR: Supreme Court seeks ECI data on appeals pending over voters' exclusion/inclusion

The Supreme Court on Monday sought detailed data from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the number of appeals pending before appellate tribunals challenging exclusion/ inclusion of voters from West Bengal's electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was hearing pleas seeking measures to streamline and expedite the disposal of appeals before the SIR appellate tribunals.

The Court today directed the ECI to provide a break-up of pending and disposed appeals. The information sought includes:

1. How many appeals are still pending before the appellate tribunals;

2. How many appeals have so far been disposed of, including the nature of relief sought in those appeals;

3. A break-up of the appeals concerning voters whose names have been excluded and those where exclusion of names from the electoral roll has been sought;

4. How many appeals have been allowed and what consequential steps are being taken for updating the electoral rolls pursuant to such orders; and

5. What steps are being taken to streamline the mechanism for disposal of the pending appeals.

Pertinently, the Court today said that the SIR process should be concluded and all appeals should be decided at least before the next parliamentary elections in 2029.

“Kindly also propose the suggestions and changes you have made so as to streamline the manner of disposal by the appellate tribunals,” CJI Kant added, addressing the ECI’s counsel. 

The order was passed after the petitioners raised concerns that appeals filed by excluded voters must be prioritised by the tribunals over appeals filed by those opposing the inclusion of other voters. 

They also sought directions for the prompt publication of a supplementary SIR voter list with the names of voters who had successfully challenged their earlier exclusion from the electoral roll. 

They contended that such measures were necessary to protect the rights of such voters, particularly in view of several upcoming elections.

“Municipal elections are coming. They will not be able to cast their votes (if their names are not added to the voter list on time). Then Panchayat elections are coming next year. Then the Lok Sabha elections in 2029. These are persons whose names have been deleted,” said Senior Advocate Kalyan Banerjee, representing a petitioner. 

“We are with you on this point that before the election, at least before the parliamentary election comes, much before that, everything should be decided,” remarked CJI Kant.

Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, also appearing for one of the petitioners, argued that a large number of appeals filed before SIR appellate tribunals are actually not by excluded voters.

“Out of 38 lakh appeals filed, only 7 lakh filed by individuals removed from rolls. Rest 31 lakh appeals is by ECI or people objecting to the inclusion. This lion's share of people who want to have people disenfranchised cannot burden the appellate tribunals, definitely not in priority. With municipal and Panchayat elections coming up, my first suggestion is that the appellate tribunals should prioritise those who have been excluded. Looking at the track record, 95 per cent of them are eventually directed to be included. Let them not lose the opportunity to vote in the next election,” he said. 

Another concern raised was the impact that decisions on SIR appeals could have on election results.

The petitioners argued that In some constituencies, the winning margin for the recently concluded State Assembly elections was narrow and that the deletion of voters amid SIR may have made substantial difference. 

“In one constituency, I lost by 365 votes and the deletions are 7,800. In another, the margin is 469. One person lost by 18,000 votes and the deletions are 27,000. In the entire Murshidabad district, lakhs and lakhs of names have been deleted. I am not on anything else, but I am telling Your Lordships that this is targeting one community,” said Banerjee. 

The Bench, in turn, said that it would seek data from the ECI on the types of appeals pending before the tribunals, and what steps are being put in place to update the electoral rolls once decisions are made on those appeals. 

Senior Advocate DS Naidu represented the ECI today and assured the Court that the commission has been coordinating with appellate tribunals to examine ways in which the appeal disposal process can be streamlined.

“We are meeting again because they (tribunals) have suggested some tweaking to expedite the process. There are some issues regarding the architecture of the portal. We are meeting by Monday and will place it before Your Lordships next week,” Naidu said. 

[Read Live Coverage]