- EC told Supreme Court 3.7 million appeals remain pending.
- It affirmed pending appeals did not affect election results.
- Commission rejected TMC plea as unconstitutional and selective.
- EC proposed 42 new tribunals to expedite appeal disposal.
The Election Commission has told the Supreme Court that more than 37 lakh appeals are still pending before West Bengal’s SIR tribunals. Citing data, the poll panel said the pending appeals did not affect the election results.
The Election Commission shared the details in response to a petition filed by TMC MP Derek O’Brien, who has sought fresh elections in 31 Assembly constituencies.
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EC Rejects Claim Over 31 Assembly Seats
O’Brien had argued that the victory margins in the 31 constituencies were smaller than the number of names removed from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
Responding to the claim, the Election Commission said O’Brien was only referring to constituencies where his party had lost. The poll panel pointed out that the TMC also won 21 seats where the number of voters removed from the electoral rolls was higher than the victory margin.
38.31 Lakh Appeals Filed Before Tribunals
The Election Commission said around 38.31 lakh appeals were filed before the SIR appellate tribunals. Of these, 22.21 lakh appeals were filed by people whose names had been removed from the electoral rolls.
Another 16.10 lakh appeals were filed against the inclusion of names in the electoral rolls. The Election Commission said these 16.10 lakh people voted in the election.
The poll panel said there has been extensive discussion about 1.22 crore names being removed during the SIR, while the fact that most of the deleted names belonged to deceased, duplicate, shifted or absent voters has been overlooked.
This, the EC said, is why only 22.21 lakh people approached the appellate tribunals. Murshidabad recorded the highest number of appeals at 7.48 lakh, followed by Malda with 5,31,617 appeals.
EC Proposes More Tribunals To Clear Backlog
The Election Commission has proposed increasing the number of tribunals to expedite the disposal of pending appeals. It suggested setting up 42 appellate tribunals, corresponding to the state’s 42 Lok Sabha constituencies.
The poll panel also said former judges hearing the appeals could conduct proceedings from their homes with the help of its software.
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EC Calls Plea ‘Unconstitutional’
The Election Commission termed the demand to cancel elections in 31 constituencies constitutionally incorrect.
It said that if anyone has an objection to an election result, Article 329(b) of the Constitution provides for filing an election petition before the High Court.
According to the EC, seeking cancellation of the elections directly from the Supreme Court is unconstitutional.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: abplive.com
