No additions to West Bengal roll 72 hours before Supreme Court deadline

KOLKATA: With just 72 hours left before Saturday’s Supreme Court deadline for adding voters approved by the SIR tribunal, the Election Commission is yet to announce the names of individuals whose voting rights have been restored and who can participate in the first phase of the April 23 Bengal Assembly polls. More than 2.7 million people have been excluded from the electoral rolls following judicial rulings in the final phase of the electoral roll SIR, which starts in November 2025. Their fate as voters now depends on the verdict of 19 appellate tribunals set up under SC orders.The SC ruled that voters who were removed from constituencies in the first phase of voting can exercise their franchise in the upcoming elections if their appeals are approved before April 21. The second phase was originally scheduled to end on April 29th and the deadline is April 27th. According to European Commission sources, the tribunal began its work on April 13 and had dealt with nearly 200 cases as of Thursday. But Bangladesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal said he did not know how many cases had been processed so far or how many had been approved. “The tribunal operates completely independently of the European Commission and the CEO’s office. I cannot reveal how many cases the tribunal has dealt with until the dashboard is ready. The European Commission is doing its best to launch the dashboard as soon as possible,” he said. All 19 tribunals are headed by a retired judge and function from a single institution in Choka, Kolkata. The retired judge arrived at 10 a.m. and worked until 5 to 6 p.m. “Cases are being dealt with regularly. Although there are still some logistical and infrastructural issues, work continues,” said a retired Calcutta High Court judge who heads one of the courts. Asked how to obtain the court order, he said: “Keep an eye on the EC website.” On the question of how the appellant would know if his name had been cleared, Agarwal said: “The electorate will be informed of the decision through their BLO. There are other ways.”