The Supreme Court on Monday said that fresh applications could be filed in cases where the deletion of voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls may have affected the outcome of the Assembly elections in West Bengal.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a batch of petitions challenging different aspects of the SIR exercise carried out ahead of the recently concluded Bengal Assembly elections.
Appearing for the Trinamool Congress (TMC), senior advocate and party MP Kalyan Banerjee argued that large-scale deletions from voter rolls had influenced results in several constituencies. He told the court that in at least 31 Assembly seats, the margin of victory was lower than the number of names removed during the adjudication process.
Banerjee cited one constituency where—according to him—a TMC candidate lost by only 862 votes while more than 5,000 names were deleted from the electoral rolls. He further submitted that the overall vote difference between the BJP and the TMC in the state stood at nearly 32 lakh votes, whereas appeals against deletions exceeded 35 lakh.
The bench observed that if the margin of victory in constituencies was indeed lower than the number of disputed deletions, parties were free to move fresh applications before the court.
The court had earlier also indicated that it may examine cases where disputed deletions exceeded the winning margin.
Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, appearing in the matter, raised concerns over the delay in disposal of appeals linked to additions and deletions in voter lists. She told the court that at the current pace, appellate tribunals could take several years to clear the backlog of cases arising from the revision exercise.
The Election Commission of India opposed the submissions and argued that disputes related to elections must be addressed through election petitions as provided under law. Counsel appearing for the poll body told the court that every grievance connected to the SIR process could not be litigated separately.
The Bench, however, remarked that the appellate mechanism could still be strengthened and stressed the need for timely adjudication of such disputes.
The petitions before the top court include one filed by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenging aspects of the SIR process conducted before the elections.
The recently concluded elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly saw the BJP register a sweeping victory with 207 seats, while the TMC won 80 seats. The state recorded a voter turnout of over 90 per cent.
