More than 37 lakh appeals challenging the deletion or inclusion of names in West Bengal’s electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) remain pending, the Election Commission has told the Supreme Court.
According to the poll panel’s response affidavit, a total of 38,20,683 appeals have been filed against orders relating to the SIR exercise. Of these, 1,02,231 appeals have been disposed of, leaving 37,18,452 cases pending before the appellate tribunals.
The affidavit, however, does not provide a separate break-up of appeals filed by electors seeking restoration of deleted names and those challenging the inclusion of names in the electoral rolls.
The figures were submitted in response to proceedings before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana. The matter concerns a plea by Prasenjit Bose, chairperson of the SIR committee of the West Bengal Congress, seeking Assembly constituency-wise data on claims and objections filed during the revision exercise.
Supreme Court pushes for time-bound hearings
The Supreme Court had earlier directed the Election Commission to provide details of the pendency and disposal of appeals before the tribunals. The court also sought information on measures being taken to streamline the process and whether additional tribunals would be required.
The court has stressed that the appeals should be “adjudicated in a time-bound manner”, particularly in cases involving challenges to exclusion from the electoral rolls.
Earlier, on April 24, the apex court had directed appellate tribunals to give out-of-turn hearings to applicants who could demonstrate an urgent need for relief against deletion from the electoral rolls following the SIR exercise.
Nearly 60 lakh claims and objections
The scale of the exercise has placed a substantial burden on the adjudication mechanism. Around 700 judicial officers from West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand were deployed to deal with nearly 60 lakh claims and objections.
Following a direction from the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court subsequently constituted 19 tribunals, headed by former high court chief justices and judges, to hear appeals arising from the SIR process.
The Election Commission has also placed data on applications for inclusion of names before the court. Between December 17, 2025, when the draft electoral roll was published, and August 7, 2026, 34.13 lakh Form 6 applications were filed. Form 6 is the statutory application used to seek inclusion in the electoral roll.
