TMC Tells SC: Pending SIR Adjudication Altered Election Results, Told to File Separate Petitions in Low Margin Seats
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 11: Giving a significant response, the Supreme Court on Monday advised the Trinamool Congress (TMC) to file separate petitions by the aggrieved party in the constituencies where the margin of defeat in the just-conducted State Assembly elections in West Bengal was less than the number of votes deleted during the “Special Intensive Revision” (SIR) of the voters list.
Appearing before a bench comprising the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, the TMC advocate Kalyan Banerjee alleged that large-scale deletion of voter names had materially influenced election outcomes in the state. He told the court that in at least 31 Assembly constituencies, the margin of victory was lower than the number of voters removed during the SIR exercise.
Highlighting what he described as the “serious electoral impact” of the revision process, Banerjee informed the bench that one TMC candidate lost by just 862 votes, while more than 5,000 names were deleted from the electoral rolls in that constituency alone.
He further argued that the overall vote difference between the TMC and the winner BJP in the state stood at nearly 32 lakh votes, while over 35 lakh applications against ejection are still pending disposal.
Taking cognisance of the situation, the bench observed that if the margins in some seats were so narrow – that it could be swayed by votes from people whose appeals against electoral roll ejection are still pending – the aggrieved party may file a petition. The observation assumes significance as the court had offered such a provision in its last hearing. The Election Commission had also affirmed that petitions could be filed for specifically such instances.
“Whatever you want to say about results…which may have materially affected because of deletions which are under adjudication…that requires an independent Interlocutory Application (IA),” Justice Bagchi said.
Representing the petitioners, senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy raised concerns over delays in the appellate mechanism dealing with voter deletion disputes. She told the bench that at the current pace, appellate tribunals could take nearly four years to clear the backlog of pending appeals. Responding to these concerns, the court remarked that the existing system for hearing electoral roll appeals may require strengthening and procedural improvements to ensure timely adjudication.
However, the Election Commission maintained that the legal position on the issue was absolutely clear and reiterated that the appropriate remedy in election-related disputes is the filing of an election petition. It also referred to its own data to claim the reverse. The poll panel said some constituencies that saw the highest number of voter deletions – in the Malda and Murshidabad belt – voted in favour of the Trinamool.
As per the EC data, Sujapur, for example, recorded 1.50 lakh deletions followed by Raghunathganj with 1.30 lakh, Samserganj with 1.25 lakh, Ratua with 1.23 lakh and Suti with 1.20 lakh. But all five were won by the Trinamool Congress, the EC argued.
The BJP eventually won 207 of the state’s 294 seats for its first ever election triumph in the eastern state, and to peg back Mamata Banerjee who had denied it space for nearly 15 years. The SIR, and the associated issue of ‘ghuspaithiya’ or ‘infiltrators’, i.e., undocumented migrants from Muslim-majority Bangladesh, with which Bengal shares a 2,217-km border, became major campaign platforms in the build-up to this election.
The BJP accused the Trinamool of looking the other way to allow illegal immigrants entry, in exchange for their votes, while the Bengal party snapped back claiming the SIR had been orchestrated by the EC and saffron party to disenfranchise lakhs of marginalised voters.
