The Election Commission filed an affidavit this week proposing to raise the number of appellate tribunals handling West Bengal’s SIR appeals from 19 to 42, one per Lok Sabha constituency, to tackle a backlog that could take a decade to clear if left at the current pace. The tribunals, set up after the Supreme Court’s March 10 order, have disposed of just over 1.02 lakh appeals in six months, while 22 lakh voters have appealed deletions from the 27.16 lakh purged from the rolls.
Trinamool Congress spokesperson Anirban Banerjee slammed the SIR as a targeted assault against his party, claiming that 90% of those excluded had appealed and that the tribunals cleared the same percentage of cases. Banerjee called the exercise illegal, alleging that the BJP used the Election Commission to defeat the TMC through a back‑door mechanism.
BJP state spokesperson Shatorupa distanced the party from the revision, insisting that the SIR fell within the EC’s jurisdiction and that the party would welcome genuine voters back if clerical errors had caused deletions. She added that the BJP had no role in the process and would not comment on the overall exercise.
The commission’s petition also seeks to make its hearing software "location‑agnostic," allowing judicial officers to conduct proceedings from any location, including their homes. The tribunals began hearing appeals in mid‑April, following a March 10 Supreme Court mandate that set up the SIR framework.
In a Howrah village, 56‑year‑old Kamala Devi says her name was struck from the voter list and she is now scrambling to re‑register before the December municipal polls. Her situation echoes that of thousands of voters across the state who fear remaining off the rolls if the backlog is not addressed swiftly. The Supreme Court is slated to review the EC’s expansion request in the coming weeks, with a decision expected before the December elections.