Of 27 lakh deleted West Bengal voters, 22 lakh have filed appeals: Election Commission

The Election Commission of India has revealed that out of 38 lakh appeals filed against inclusions and exclusions in West Bengal's electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision, 22 lakh appeals were filed by voters who had been deleted. This indicates that 82% of the 27.16 lakh voters deleted through the unprecedented adjudication process in the state have appealed their exclusion.

The Election Commission informed the Supreme Court in response to a petition by TMC MP Derek O'Brien, stating that 22.21 lakh appeals were filed by deleted voters seeking inclusion, while 16.10 lakh appeals were filed against voters included, seeking further deletion. No details were provided about the identities of those filing the appeals.

The Commission also proposed increasing the number of appellate tribunals to expedite the disposal of pending appeals, suggesting that the tribunals should correspond with the number of parliamentary constituencies in the state. In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court ordered the adjudication of eligibility of some electors of West Bengal by judicial officers on February 20, following the Supreme Court's trust deficit with the then-TMC government.

Around 700 judicial officers from West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Odisha were assigned to determine the eligibility of 60.06 lakh electors flagged by the Election Commission's algorithm. Out of these, 27.16 lakh names were deleted by the judicial officers, while the rest were retained. The Supreme Court subsequently ordered the setting up of appellate tribunals on March 10 to hear appeals against the decisions of the judicial officers.

Just 1,607 electors were able to have their names reinstated in time for the West Bengal Assembly polls held on April 23 and April 29, with the rest unable to participate in the elections.