Bengal SIR tribunals could take 12 years to clear appeals
What's the story
The West Bengal voters, who were removed from the electoral rolls after special intensive revision (SIR), may not be able to vote for over a decade. This is because the appellate tribunals set up by the Supreme Court could take more than 12 years to decide on their appeals for inclusion. An affidavit filed by the Election Commission before the Supreme Court revealed that only 1,26,194 applications have been decided by these tribunals since they started operating in mid-April.
Slow progress
It will take over a decade to clear all cases
At the current pace, an average of 25,238 cases are being decided every month, with the calculation taking into account all seven days of the week as working days, according to Times of India.
As of September 16, when the affidavit was filed, 37,05,235 cases remained pending.
This means that if the tribunals continue at this rate and work seven days a week, it would take about 146 months or over 12 years to clear all cases.
Additional resources
EC has requested SC to increase number of tribunals
The Election Commission has admitted that the current infrastructure and number of tribunals are inadequate to handle such a huge number of cases.
It requested the Supreme Court to increase the number of tribunals in West Bengal from 24 to 42, nearly doubling their strength.
In the affidavit filed in response to TMC leader Derek O'Brien's petition, the poll panel suggested allowing judicial officers to work from home to expedite hearings and other proceedings by reducing time lost in commuting.
Legal proceedings
Tribunals constituted as per directions from Supreme Court
In another affidavit filed in response to a petition regarding the functioning of these tribunals, the Election Commission said they were constituted as per directions from the Supreme Court.
It said the standard operating procedure (SOP) governing their functioning was formulated by a committee comprising former judges of Calcutta High Court.
The affidavit stated that reliefs sought by the petitioner pertain primarily to accessibility and procedure of the appellate mechanism, which fall under domain of SOP governing tribunal functioning.
Voter restoration
Over 90% appeals resulted in applicants being added back
Of the 1,26,194 appeals decided by these tribunals, 1,13,943 or over 90%, were added back to the electoral rolls, according to the EC.
As many as 22.2 lakh appeals were filed by voters whose names had been deleted from the electoral rolls.
Nearly 91 lakh voters were removed from Bengal's voter lists as part of the special intensive revision of the state's electoral rolls ahead of the Assembly polls in April.