West Bengal tribunal cases excluded from EC voter re-enrolment drive

The Election Commission’s post-special-intensive-revision re-enrolment drive will not cover more than 20 lakh West Bengal voters whose cases are pending before appellate tribunals, according to an official cited by The Hindu. The Commission plans to use Form 6 applications and door-to-door checks to restore eligible voters left out of the current roll. However, the official said people whose cases were already before tribunals were in a different category because their claims were under adjudication.

An affidavit submitted by the Commission to the Supreme Court put the number of pending appeals at 22.21 lakh. The arrangement could create two separate routes: one through the tribunals and another through Electoral Registration Officers. The Commission has instructed Booth Level Officers to compare current and pre-revision rolls, identify missing electors and visit households to establish their status.

Form 6 applications are expected to be cleared within one or two months, while tribunal appeals could take considerably longer. The tribunals were created after the Supreme Court’s intervention in the revision process. The report said about 60 lakh doubtful or pending cases remained before the final roll was published on February 28, after earlier hearings.

The West Bengal Congress urged the Commission to restore all 22.21 lakh appellants provisionally or convert their pending cases into Form 6 applications. It argued that some voters could be deprived of their vote for a second consecutive time.