On August 25, a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant told the Election Commission of India to furnish a granular breakdown of the 3.7 million appeals lodged against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal.
Only 1.02 lakh of the 38.20 lakh appeals were disposed by the 19 appellate tribunals in the previous six months.
The order followed a petition filed by West Bengal Congress leader Prasenjit Bose, represented by Advocate‑On‑Record Neha Rathi, which demanded that constituency‑wise data on additions and deletions be made public and that the standard operating procedure for appeals be disclosed.
The RTI response cited by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan revealed that roughly 31 lakh appeals challenge the inclusion of names, whereas about 7 lakh appeal against exclusion, and that of the 83,000 appeals adjudicated, 75,000 were granted, giving a 90 % success rate for disenfranchisement petitions.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi instructed the ECI to prioritize exclusion appeals, noting that denying a voter a right is more egregious than granting one, and warned that a failure to comply would prolong the tribunals' backlog.
The Court has set a September 15 hearing to review the ECI’s compliance and to decide whether the Commission will adopt a triage system for pending appeals.