More than 3.7 million appeals concerning the inclusion and deletion of names in West Bengal’s electoral rolls remain unresolved, the Election Commission has informed the Supreme Court, revealing that specialized appellate tribunals have cleared less than three percent of the total challenges filed under the Special Intensive Revision drive.
In a status affidavit submitted to the top court, the poll body stated that out of 38,20,683 appeals submitted against revision orders, the tribunals have resolved 1,02,231 cases, leaving an outstanding backlog of 37,18,452 matters. The election authority did not include a breakdown distinguishing between electors appealing against the deletion of their names and those contesting the addition of other voters.
Judicial Review And Tribunal Capacity
The disclosures stem from proceedings before a three-judge Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V Mohana. The bench took up a petition filed on July 17 by Prasenjit Bose, who heads the Special Intensive Revision committee of the West Bengal Congress. The plea sought an order directing the Commission to release Assembly constituency-level records of all claims and objections registered by voters deleted during the revision process.
Following earlier hearings, the Supreme Court directed the election authority on August 25 to produce comprehensive pendency figures. Emphasizing the necessity of time-bound dispute resolution, the judges instructed the Commission to present a plan to streamline appellate operations and to indicate whether more tribunals must be formed to address the logjam.
To expedite urgent grievances, the court had separately ruled on April 24 that tribunals must prioritize and grant out-of-turn hearings to electors demonstrating urgent circumstances following deletions.
Discrepancies In Voter Additions
The petition submitted by Bose highlighted substantial variations between the number of applications filed and the revisions finalized in the roll. According to the petition, the enumeration phase of the revision resulted in the removal of over 58 lakh electors across the state.
During the subsequent claims and objections window, the poll administration received 9.64 lakh applications for enrollment through Forms 6 and 6A, alongside upwards of 99,000 Form 7 deletion requests. However, when the final voter roll appeared on February 28, it reflected approximately 1.82 lakh additions.
Official records submitted by the Commission further showed that between the release of the draft roll on December 17, 2025, and August 7, 2026, a total of 34.13 lakh Form 6 requests were lodged. Under statutory electoral rules, Form 6 is used both by first-time applicants seeking registration and by individuals whose names were removed during the draft revision stage.
Interstate Judicial Machinery
The scale of the revision exercise required significant administrative and judicial resources. Around 700 judicial officers were mobilised from West Bengal as well as neighbouring Jharkhand and Odisha to examine roughly 60 lakh initial claims and objections.
To manage appellate challenges arising from those decisions, the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, acting under directions from the Supreme Court, constituted 19 dedicated tribunals headed by retired High Court judges and former chief justices.
