Highlighting the rate at which appellate tribunals were restoring the names of electors deleted during the Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal, Congress leader and social activist Prasenjit Bose on Wednesday (May 27, 2026) said that the development proves how genuine voters were wrongfully deleted during SIR in West Bengal.

“Appellate Tribunals were constituted by the Hon’ble Supreme Court to hear appeals, where around 25 lakh appeals against deletions are reportedly pending. Till May 14, 2026, 6,581 appeals were disposed of by the tribunals, restoring the names of 4,043 electors (61%). This provides evidence of how genuine electors were wrongfully deleted under SIR through opaque, arbitrary and discriminatory processes,” Mr. Bose said in a statement.

Prasenjit Bose serves as the chairperson, SIR Committee of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee emphasised that with over 60% electors restored to voter list by the tribunals it is clear that genuine electors were deprived of their right to vote in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election. 

The remarks came on the day when the Supreme Court upheld the SIR exercise in Bihar, saying just because the exercise does not adhere strictly to modalities, it cannot be invalidated. 

Referring to the situation in Bihar, Mr. Bose said that electors in Bihar whose names have been erroneously deleted on ASDD grounds have been provided the option to “assail the decision of the Commission by way of judicial review”.

“The judicial forum where the aggrieved electors can file their appeals/challenge need to be specified,” Mr. Bose said.

Over 27 lakh voters who were put under adjudication were excluded from West Bengal electoral rolls on April 7, weeks before the Assembly polls in the State. A quarter of such deletions were reported in two-Muslim dominated districts in the State. The Trinamool Congress as well as the other Opposition parties like the Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) had opposed the SIR, particularly to the deletion of 27 lakh electors who have traced their legacy link to 2022 electoral rolls but were excluded from the electoral rolls on grounds of logical discrepancy. Many political observers link the SIR deletions to the massive victory of the BJP in 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls.

 

The Supreme Court assured Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee on Monday (May 11, 2026) that it would examine her claims that the lakhs of deletions made during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls “materially affected” results in the recently concluded Assembly election in West Bengal.

This is the first Supreme Court hearing in the West Bengal SIR case after the election, which saw the Bharatiya Janata Party trounce the Trinamool to assume power for the first time. The BJP secured 207 seats in the 294-seat Assembly, while the Trinamool won 80. The State had registered a record voter turnout of above 90% in the election.

Appearing before a Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, senior advocate Kalyan Bandhopadhyay, representing the former Chief Minister and other party leaders, said in as many as 31 seats, the victory margins of the BJP were less than the number of votes deleted during the SIR.

“I have prepared a chart. I just want to give you an impression of what I am saying. In one seat, the margin was 862 and 5,432 votes were under adjudication in appeals before the tribunals. Your Lordships had said that we could approach this court if such a situation happens,” Mr. Bandhopadhyay said.

As on May 11, voters had filed over 34 lakh appeals in 19 Appellate Tribunals against their exclusion from the electoral roll on the ground of “logical discrepancies” in their personal details. “Logical discrepancy”, as a category of exclusion from the electoral roll, was unique to West Bengal.

The tribunals could adjudicate only a few thousand appeals in time for polling in the two-phased Assembly elections. Though the apex court had ordered the constitution of these tribunals on March 11, they had started functioning only by April 13. The top court had even directed that even those voters cleared by the tribunals as of April 21 and April 27 – two days before the first and second phases of polling – should be allowed to vote. However, a substantial number of appeals had remained unresolved, or even unheard.

“About results having been materially affected due to the deletions which are under adjudication, we require you to file an application for the issue to be taken up by us,” Justice Bagchi addressed Mr. Bandhopadhyay.

Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, also for Trinamool leaders, said the “sense was that the adjudication of the pending appeals would take four or more years”.

Mr. Bandhopadhyay pointed to the fact that one of the more prominent judges appointed to the tribunals, former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, had resigned. It was reported that he had cleared 1,777 SIR appeals before putting in his papers.

“What can we do if a former Chief Justice wants to leave?” Chief Justice Kant reacted.

Justice Bagchi said the apex court would request the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court for information about the pending appeals before the tribunals.

“On the pending appeals, we will seek a report from the Chief Justice of the High Court. Then, we will take stock as to how and by what time the appeals could be resolved,” Justice Bagchi observed.

Chief Justice Kant said the focus was now to improve the mechanism for adjudication of the appeals.

Senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, for the Election Commission, said the Trinamool leaders could either challenge the results by way of election petitions, or, if they had grievances about the SIR, they could approach the Supreme Court claiming lapses, in which case, the Election Commission reserved the right to respond.

The Supreme Court, meanwhile, gave the National Investigation Agency two months to complete its probe into the case of seven judicial officers, deployed for SIR work, being gheraoed in Malda on April 1, ahead of the elections.

GUWAHATI

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday (May 4, 2026) said the Bharatiya Janata Party’s landslide win in West Bengal would go a long way in checking infiltration from across the India-Bangladesh border.

Addressing journalists after the BJP and its allies bagged 102 of the 126 Assembly seats in Assam, the Chief Minister said that the party’s performance in West Bengal was a victory not only for the eastern Indian State but also for the country beyond, especially the northeastern region.

As many as 700 companies or 70,000 personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) will remain deployed in West Bengal till “further orders”, an official of the Election Commission of India (EC) said, even as the second and final phase of polling concluded on Wednesday (April 29, 2026).

Two hundred companies or 20,000 personnel, out of the total 700 companies, have been assigned to secure the strong rooms where the electronic voting machines are kept.

Accusing the TMC of pursuing appeasement policies in West Bengal, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday (April 13, 2026) urged people to vote for a “double-engine” government here to bring in “a truly inclusive regime”.

Addressing a rally at Sonamukhi in Bankura district, Mr. Adityanath said Bengal is known as the land of Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna, who enriched the country’s spiritual quest.