Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee argued before the Supreme Court on Monday (May 11) that in West Bengal’s 31 assembly constituencies, the margin of victory was less than the number of deleted votes.
The Supreme Court was hearing a number of petitions, including one filed by Mamata Banerjee, related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.
According to Live Law, Kalyan Banerjee, who is also a senior advocate, said the margin of victory in the 31 constituencies was less than the drop due to the SIR decision.
He was reportedly referring to the election result from Jangipara constituency where BJP’s Prasenjit Bag won the election defeating TMC leader Snehasis Chakraborty by 862 votes. He said his client lost by 862 votes while the deletion in the constituency was much higher – over 5,000.
“My candidate lost by 862 votes but 5,550 names were deleted. This court has indicated that if the margin of votes is less than the deletion of names, then this court will look into it,” Banerjee said, according to Bar and Bench.
Banerjee has sought some kind of judicial intervention in cases where election results are likely to have been affected by widespread voter suppression, which is still in the process of being challenged before the appellate courts.
The Election Commission opposed the submissions saying that the remedy was an election petition and that issues related to SIR and subsequent appeals against addition or subtraction of votes could be the responsibility of the Election Commission, news agency PTI reported.
What did the Supreme Court say?
The Supreme Court on Monday said former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and others can file fresh petitions regarding their claim that the margin of victory was less than the deletion of votes during the SIR of electoral rolls in various constituencies.
According to the Bar and Bench, the Supreme Court indicated that a separate application would have to be filed to raise issues with the election results.
“Whatever you want to say about the results, about the deletions etc., it requires an independent impact assessment,” Justice Bagchi said.
In the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections, the BJP secured 207 seats in the 294-member assembly, while the TMC won 80 seats.
The state saw a record voter turnout in the polls, exceeding 90 percent.
What did the judge say earlier? “If 10%…”
During the hearing on April 13, Justice Bagchi said that unless and until “huge numbers of voters are excluded”, the results of the West Bengal elections cannot be interfered with.
“If 10 percent don’t vote and the margin of victory is more than 10 percent, then…if it’s less than 5 percent, then we have to exercise our opinion. Previously, a candidate was given preference before the appeals tribunal because a candidate cannot be denied the right to stand. Please don’t think that this question is not in our minds, what about those who are disqualified?” added the judge according to the Bar and Bench.
The role of appellate tribunals
The Supreme Court had earlier refused to stay the SIR exercise, but ordered the establishment of appellate tribunals, manned by retired judges, to hear objections to voter deletion.
Millions of struck-off voters were challenged before these appellate tribunals and remained pending even as assembly elections were held. Only a tiny number of people got relief from the tribunals before the elections were held, the Bar and Bench said.
(With inputs from Bar and Bench)
