3.7 million SIR appeals pending in Bengal; ECI proposes 42 election tribunals
Election Commission stated in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court that out of 3.8 million appeals filed, 3.7 million are currently pending.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has proposed creating 42 election tribunals in West Bengal to swiftly process over 3.7 million appeals related to voters deleted from the electoral roll during the special intensive revision (SIR) process. Currently, 19 tribunals are handling these cases, while a total of 3.8 million appeals have been filed.
The remaining 3.7 million appeals are still pending, with more than 2.2 million initiated by voters excluded from the roll and about 1.6 million cross-appeals challenging the inclusion of names in the electoral lists post-SIR. The ECI argued that the existing tribunal capacity is insufficient to handle the caseload effectively. To address this, the commission suggested increasing the number of appellate tribunals in West Bengal to match the state's 42 parliamentary constituencies, which would correspond to the Lok Sabha seats in the region.
This recommendation was made in response to a petition filed by Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien, who is among the petitioners in the Supreme Court challenging the SIR process in West Bengal. According to the ECI, over 57% of the 3.8 million appeals involve exclusions, while the remaining 43% challenge the inclusion of voters in the electoral rolls.
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