Crawling pace in West Bengal Appellate Tribunals keep voters in limbo

Nearly 19,000 voters in two Assembly constituencies of West Bengal – Nandigram and Rejinagar – are set to be disenfranchised due to the slow pace of work at the Appellate Tribunals handling their cases. As of October 6, 2026, these 38.31 lakh voters out of the total 38.31 lakh voters in the state remain without their votes being counted.

The Calcutta High Court warned in July that at the current rate, it would take 21 years for the tribunals to clear these cases. In Rejinagar, 12,452 appeals were submitted, of which only four have been processed, while Nandigram saw 6,443 appeals with 89 fulfilled. However, only 1.26 lakh out of the 38.31 lakh appeals have been resolved, accounting for just 3% of the total cases.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) set up 19 Appellate Tribunals in March to address these appeals, but only 16 are currently operational as three judges have resigned, leaving their positions unfilled. The ECI's plan to expand the tribunals to 42 has yet to be approved. The Supreme Court was set to review this matter on October 5, but the hearing was not scheduled.

Furthermore, the ECI's door-to-door voter re-enrolment drive following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, scheduled for last week, will not affect these disenfranchised voters. Appellate Tribunals, previously under the Supreme Court's oversight for the SIR, now function independently. On March 10, the Supreme Court directed the formation of a separate appellate body to challenge their decisions.

Out of the 60 lakh "doubtful and pending" cases, 700 judicial officers from the Calcutta High Court's list restored around 32.77 lakh voters. The remaining 27.23 lakh cases were rejected, with 22 lakh appealing to the tribunals. The ECI established the tribunals on March 21, with functioning starting around April 13. The Supreme Court's ruling on adding successful voters to the electoral rolls came just days before the April 23 Assembly elections, adding to the confusion.

Around 136 names were cleared, and 16,10,311 bulk appeals were lodged challenging the inclusion of restored voters, increasing the pending cases to over 38 lakh.