West Bengal Elections: 139 out of 27 lakh names get go ahead to vote in phase 1 amid SIR heat

Appellate tribunals set up on the Supreme Court’s direction to hear appeals related to 27.16 lakh voters flagged “not eligible” have, so far, restored voting rights to 139 people ahead of Phase 1 polling in West Bengal, according to Election Commission of India data and officials cited by ET bureau.

Out of 657 cases disposed, eight names were permanently deleted while 510 applications were rejected as “wrongly applied,” the data showed. The tribunals are functioning under Calcutta High Court monitoring, with 705 judicial officers adjudicating appeals linked to the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise.

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The Supreme Court had earlier directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure that wherever claims of excluded voters are allowed by appellate tribunals before polling dates between April 23 and 29, their names are incorporated into supplementary revised electoral rolls to enable them to vote.

The highest number of “not eligible” voters was reported in Murshidabad and Malda districts, both of which go to polls in the first phase, with Samserganj recording the most cases, according to ECI data.

According to The Times of India, tribunals have so far disposed of 147 appeals out of around 34 lakh overall, with 139 voters cleared in the latest batch on the eve of the first phase of polling. Officials said all 139 would be able to vote on Thursday, with efforts underway to ensure updated voter details reach polling authorities in time.

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Among those cleared is 88-year-old Suprabuddha Sen, grandson of artist Nandalal Bose, though he is unlikely to vote due to ill-health. His wife Deepa Sen and caretaker Chakradhar Nayek are expected to vote after their names were restored. The eight cases that were earlier added but later deleted from supplementary rolls cannot file Form 6 for re-enrolment and will need to approach the Calcutta High Court or Supreme Court, officials said.

Legal challenges to the process also intensified on Wednesday, with a PIL filed in the Calcutta High Court seeking intervention in the functioning of 19 tribunals and disclosure of their standard operating procedures. A division bench led by Chief Justice Sujoy Paul declined to hear the matter, directing petitioners to the Supreme Court since the tribunals were constituted under apex court orders.

Data released earlier showed large-scale exclusions under the SIR exercise, particularly in Samserganj in Murshidabad, which saw significant deletions across stages of scrutiny.

(With inputs from TOI)