Kolkata, Sept. 24 -- Amid Opposition demands, including Mamata Banerjee's, for fresh Bengal polls using the pre-SIR roll, a legal question has emerged over whether it can be used while SIR deletion appeals are pending.
The issue could extend to the 2029 Lok Sabha polls, with deleted voters facing exclusion unless their names are restored through appeals or a subsequent revision.
The ECI has told the Supreme Court that 37,05,235 SIR-related appeals remain pending, including 22,21,118 filed by voters seeking restoration of deleted names. At the present disposal rate, clearing the backlog could take more than 12 years. The ECI has proposed increasing appellate tribunals from 19 to 42.
Legal experts said that Section 23(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 bars amendment, transposition or deletion of entries, or inclusion of names, after the last date for nominations and until completion of the election.
In Lakshmi Charan Sen v A.K.M. Hassan Uzzaman (1985), the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench held that an election is held on the electoral roll in force on the last date for nominations. Pending claims and objections cannot, by themselves, arrest the election process.
The judgment predates the SIR mechanism and did not involve a fresh poll or use of an earlier roll, so it does not directly settle whether a court can order a poll on the pre-SIR roll. The issue has arisen amid claims that in 31 Assembly constituencies, SIR deletions exceeded the winning margin. The ECI disputes the inference that deletions affected results, citing ASDD entries - absent, shifted, dead and duplicate - and adjudicated deletions below the margin in several constituencies.
Section 21(2)(a)(i) of the Act provides for revision of electoral rolls before every general election to the Lok Sabha or a State Assembly.
The legal question is whether a fresh poll can use the pre-SIR roll and, if not, which roll would govern while deletion appeals are pending.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.