ECI’s Appeals Against Over 16 Lakh Cleared Voters In Bengal Raise Legal Questions, Pg1

Key Highlights:

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) filed appeals against the inclusion of over 16 lakh voters in West Bengal, whose names were previously cleared by judicial officers.
• These appeals concern electors identified during the West Bengal Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
• Legal questions have been raised regarding the authority of the officials who filed these appeals under the Representation of the People Act.
• The Supreme Court had established Appellate Tribunals in April 2026 to adjudicate "doubtful and pending" voter cases.
• Opposition parties in West Bengal have demanded the scrapping of these appeals and a judicial probe into the matter.

Detailed Insights:

• The 16.10 lakh electors had their names on supplementary lists and would have voted in the Assembly polls.
• The Representation of the People Act designates CEO/DEO/ERO/AERO as the authorities for electoral rolls.
• The ECI stated in an affidavit to the Supreme Court that the appeals were filed by officials from the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal's office, claiming they had the authority.
• However, the ECI affidavit did not explicitly confirm if these appeals were filed by the statutorily authorized officials.
• The filing of these appeals was questioned by Election Commissioners S. S. Sandhu and Vivek Joshi in their internal notings.
• The Appellate Tribunals were formed under the Supreme Court's supervision, with judicial officers from the Calcutta High Court.
• Out of approximately 60 lakh "doubtful" cases, judicial officers cleared 32,77,360 voters, while 22 lakh appealed rejections to the tribunals.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Election Commission of India (ECI): An autonomous constitutional body responsible for administering election processes in India.
• Representation of the People Act: A parliamentary act that provides for the conduct of elections to the Houses of Parliament and the State Legislatures.
• Appellate Tribunals: Bodies established by the Supreme Court to hear appeals against decisions made by electoral registration officers.