Kolkata, Oct. 30 -- After Bengal's SIR observer Subrata Gupta reportedly claimed that he had no knowledge of the Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) office filing nearly 16.1 lakh appeals against voters whose names had already been cleared by judicial officers, Mamata All India Trinamool Congress (MAITC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee questioned who authorised the appeals and who should be held accountable for the alleged breakdown in oversight.

Subrata Gupta, the Election Commission's special observer for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bengal and now an adviser to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, reportedly told the media that he had no knowledge of the CEO's office filing nearly 16.1 lakh appeals challenging the inclusion of voters cleared by judicial officers.

Gupta, a retired IAS officer, told The Wire that the observers' responsibility ended with the publication of supplementary electoral rolls, which recorded the decisions of judicial officers on the eligibility of voters. These included around 33 lakh voters whose names were retained and 27 lakh whose names were deleted.

He said he had only heard informally about appeals being filed against voters whose eligibility had already been examined and upheld by judicial officers. However, no official communication on the matter had reached the observers.

Reacting to the development, Abhishek questioned the accountability of the officials concerned and asked whether the Supreme Court would intervene to uphold electoral transparency and protect the integrity of democracy.

"The ECI, in its affidavit before the Supreme Court, has placed blame on the West Bengal CEO, Manoj Agarwal. Yet, even before the electoral process was completed and the MCC lifted, the same CEO was appointed Chief Secretary of the West Bengal government," he said.

His remarks come amid questions over the authority and circumstances under which the appeals were filed. In an affidavit before the Supreme Court on October 26, the ECI said the appeals were filed by officers of the CEO's office in their capacity as authorities under the Representation of the People Act. It also maintained that the matter had not been brought to the Commission's notice.

The Commission had earlier informed the Supreme Court in September that 16,10,311 such appeals had been filed. Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu had also questioned who authorised the filing of these appeals in a file note dated August 12.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.