Rohinton Fali Nariman cited mass voter deletions and called for changes to how Election Commission members are appointed.
Former Supreme Court judge Rohinton Fali Nariman warned that removing voters from West Bengal’s electoral rolls put citizens’ voting rights at risk. He spoke on October 4, a day before the Supreme Court was due to consider issues related to the state’s special intensive revision (SIR) of voter lists.
Nariman said about 90 lakh people, or roughly 9 million, had been removed from the rolls during the exercise. Around 22 lakh of them had filed appeals, he said. He cited figures showing that about 93% of cases decided by that point had resulted in voters being restored to the lists. The Times of India previously reported that the figures appeared in an annexure to an Election Commission filing in court. The percentage refers to decided appeals, not to all people removed from the rolls.
The former judge also criticized how members of the Election Commission of India are appointed. He argued that leaving the process in the hands of the government of the day risks political influence over the body responsible for running elections. Nariman proposed a selection panel that would include the prime minister, the opposition leader and the chief justice or a nominee.
Nariman urged the Supreme Court to address what he described as failings in the system. Hearings on the West Bengal roll revision were taking place amid a large number of appeals by people whose names had been removed. His remarks were a criticism of the process and do not amount to a court ruling on each individual case.