Trinamool claims, Bengal results affected by SIR: Supreme Court comment!

The Trinamool Congress on Monday told the Supreme Court that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in West Bengal has significantly affected the election results of many assembly constituencies. The party claims that in at least 31 seats, the number of removed voters was more than the BJP’s victory margin.

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing petitions challenging the SIR exercise conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) ahead of the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections.

During the hearing, senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for the Trinamool Congress leaders, pointed out that in many constituencies, the number of voters removed during the SIR process was more than the victory margin between the BJP and Trinamool candidates.

Referring to Jangipara assembly constituency, Banerjee said BJP candidate Prosenjit Bagh won by a margin of 862 votes, while over 5,000 names were removed from the voter list during the SIR process.

He said that my candidate lost by 862 votes, but 5,550 names were removed. This Court had indicated that if the difference in votes is less than the number of names deleted, the Court will examine the matter.

The senior lawyer further claimed that the total vote difference between Trinamool and BJP in the state is about 32 lakh votes, while about 35 lakh appeals against deletion of names from the voter list are still pending before the appellate tribunals constituted as per the prior directions of the Supreme Court.

Citing an earlier observation by the Supreme Court, Banerjee argued that judicial inquiry is necessary in cases where the victory margin is less than the number of voters removed.

However, a bench headed by the Chief Justice clarified that complaints related to the election results and the alleged effect of deletion of names from the electoral roll would require a separate interim application (IA).

However, senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, appearing for the Election Commission, said that issues related to the election results can be raised only through election petitions filed under the Representation of the People Act.

Banerjee then requested the Supreme Court to clarify whether deletion of names as a result of the SIR process can be considered as the basis for an election petition.

To this the bench commented that how can we pass such an order, saying that the issue can be examined only when a proper application containing the relevant details is filed before the Supreme Court. For further developments you can file IA. Whatever Naidu says will be retaliatory action. We will look into it and pass orders.

The Supreme Court also took note of concerns related to the pendency of appeals filed by voters whose names were removed from the electoral rolls.