Tribunals have accepted fewer than 100 appeals in two constituencies holding by-elections on October 6. Across the state, about 3% of more than 3.8 million cases have been cleared.
Nearly 19,000 voters in Nandigram and Rejinagar, two constituencies in India’s West Bengal state holding by-elections on October 6, are waiting for decisions on their appeals. The Hindu reported that four of 12,452 appeals in Rejinagar and 89 of 6,443 in Nandigram had been accepted. No one had been finally excluded in either constituency, but almost all appeals remained unresolved.
Across the state, tribunals had cleared about 126,000 of 3.831 million appeals, roughly 3%. In July, the Calcutta High Court said that at the current pace the cases could take 21 years to resolve. Only 16 of the 19 appellate tribunals set up by India’s Election Commission in March remain functional.
Retired judges T.S. Sivagnanam, Ranjit Bag and Indrajit Chatterjee resigned, citing operational difficulties. Their positions remain vacant. A commission proposal to increase the number of tribunals to 42 has not progressed.
The appeals stem from a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls supervised by the Supreme Court. About 700 judicial officers reviewed roughly six million doubtful and pending cases. They restored 3,277,360 people to the rolls and rejected 2.723 million cases. About 2.2 million people appealed their exclusion.
The Supreme Court ordered a separate appellate mechanism on March 10, and the commission constituted the tribunals on March 21. They began operating around April 13. On April 16, the court directed that successful appellants be added through a supplementary list. By the start of the state elections on April 23, reportedly only 136 names had been cleared.
At the same time, 1,610,311 bulk appeals were filed challenging the restoration of some voters. Together with other petitions, they brought the tribunals’ pending caseload to more than 3.8 million. The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear the matter on October 5, but it was not listed that day.
A separate Election Commission drive to re-enrol voters through Form 6 does not apply to people whose cases remain before the appellate tribunals, The Hindu reported.