Supreme Court Allows Fresh Pleas Over Deleted Votes in Bengal Polls

The Supreme Court of India on Monday observed that former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and others may file fresh applications regarding claims that victory margins in 31 Assembly constituencies were lower than the number of votes deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took note of submissions made by senior advocate and TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, who argued that several candidates were affected by deletions carried out during the electoral roll revision process.

Banerjee cited one constituency where a candidate allegedly lost by 862 votes while over 5,500 names were deleted during the SIR exercise. He claimed there were 31 such constituencies where the victory margin was lower than the number of deleted votes.

Representing the Election Commission of India, senior advocate D S Naidu opposed the plea, arguing that the proper remedy would be through election petitions. The court, however, indicated that concerns regarding deletions and poll outcomes could be raised through separate interim applications.

The hearing also referenced the resignation of former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam from the SIR Appellate Tribunal, which had been constituted to hear appeals related to additions and deletions in electoral rolls.