People whose names were allegedly left out of electoral rolls after SIR are gathering to demand inclusion of their names in Balurghat, West Bengal. | Photo credit: PTI
The Election Commission of India (EC) has set up 19 Appellate Tribunals for West Bengal to hear contentious appeals dismissed by judicial officers who are disposing of 60 lakh cases of undervaluation in the state after the Special Intensive Review (SIR). The move comes amid growing apprehensions over the pending court cases in the state, even as the Assembly elections are just a month away.
“The EC hereby constitutes the following Appellate Tribunal(s) for hearing appeals against orders passed by designated judicial officers regarding the inclusion or exclusion of prospective voters in the electoral roll of the State of West Bengal,” said an order published by the EC on Friday (March 20, 2026) in Delhi.
Single-judge tribunals headed by former judges were created for 23 districts, including North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Purba Medinipur, Cooch Behar, Nadia, Malda and Birbhum and the state capital Kolkata.
The affected people can file an appeal online on the EC website. The applicant can also physically visit the office of the District Magistrate, Sub-Divisional Magistrate or Sub-Divisional Officer and file an appeal for re-examination of their name in the State Electoral Roll.
This was in response to the Supreme Court’s March 10 order asking the Calcutta High Court to ask former chief justices and high court judges to preside over appellate tribunals.
In West Bengal, at least 1.6 million people were called for hearings after the SIR process, 1.3 million people were categorized under cases of logical irregularities and 32 million were unmapped voters. Among the 1.6 million hearings, 60 million were convicted. More than 700 judicial officers from West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand have also been roped in to speed up the process and clear all pending cases before the state goes to polls.
Most political parties, including the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Congress, have expressed serious concerns about the disenfranchisement of millions of voters.
On Friday (March 20), Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while presenting her party’s manifesto for the upcoming elections, expressed concern that the court’s verdict would not be finalized before the elections.
“I heard that only 22 million cases have been tried so far, of which 10 million have been cleared,” Ms. Banerjee said. The exercise targeted a specific community and she knocked on all doors, including the EC and the Supreme Court, to get answers, the CM said.
The right to vote is the greatest right, Ms. Banerjee said, alleging that this right was taken away by the EC at the behest of the BJP.
According to the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal, at least 22 million of the 60 million cases have already been disposed of, but no additional voter lists have been released so far.
The final voter list was released on February 28 and even after 21 days, no supplementary lists have come out, raising concerns. The state is heading to polls on April 23 and 29, with counting to be held on May 4.
Published – 21 March 2026 20:46 IST
