New Delhi: At least three out of 19 apellete tribunals set up in West Bengal to settle disputes related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls are vacant amid a massive pendency of appeals, as Election Commission (EC) awaits names from the Calcutta High Court to appoint new persons.
EC functionaries said “at least” three tribunals are without heads.
The Calcutta High Court will send names of retired high court judges to the West Bengal chief electoral officers, who in turn will notify their appointments to the three vacant tribunals.
While these tribunals report to Calcutta High Court, EC provides them with secretarial assistance, including staff and digital platform for online hearings.
With local and municipal elections nearing, over 37 lakh voters remain in legal limbo, raising widespread concerns over potential mass disenfranchisement.
Set up on March 21 following Supreme Court directions, the special tribunals were tasked with adjudicating disputes after millions of names were purged or contested during the SIR exercise.
However, according to submissions made in the apex court, there are shortcomings in the system.
Out of 38.3 lakh appeals, 22.2 lakh were filed by deleted voters challenging their exclusion, while 16.1 lakh contested voter inclusions.
Tribunals have resolved only about 1.02 lakh cases — a completion rate under three per cent.
At the current pace, petitioners informed the Supreme Court that clearing the backlog could take over 12 years.
The opposition has described the SIR exercise as the “biggest hijacking of democracy”, accusing the EC of using algorithm-driven processes to disproportionately delete voters’ names from electoral rolls, allegedly targeting minority communities and traditional opposition strongholds.
