West Bengal SIR: 37 Lakh Voter Appeals Pending, EC Says Backlog Could Take 12 Years To Clear

West Bengal’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has left behind a massive appellate backlog, with more than 37 lakh appeals still pending and the Election Commission warning that the cases could take over 12 years to clear at the current rate.

The EC told the Supreme Court that 38.31 lakh appeals had been filed against decisions taken during the SIR process. Of these, 22.21 lakh were filed by voters whose names had been deleted and who sought restoration, while another 16.10 lakh challenged the inclusion of names in the electoral rolls.

As of September 16, 37,05,235 appeals remained pending. The tribunals have disposed of 1,26,194 cases since beginning work in mid-April, an average of about 25,238 cases a month. At that pace, the EC calculated, clearing the backlog would take around 146 months, more than 12 years.

The numbers also show why the outcome of the cases matters. Of the appeals decided so far, 1,13,943 resulted in voters’ names being restored, while 8,649 were rejected. More than 90 per cent of the disposed cases therefore resulted in restoration. However, that figure cannot by itself establish that the original deletions were broadly erroneous, since people seeking reinstatement are more likely to appeal and the decided cases are not necessarily a representative sample of all deletions.

The EC has proposed increasing the tribunal network to 42, matching West Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha constituencies, from the existing 19 reported by the Commission. It has also proposed greater use of digital hearings to reduce travel and administrative delays.

The issue has a direct bearing on voting rights. During the 2026 Assembly election, a pending appeal did not by itself allow an excluded voter to cast a ballot. Only voters whose appeals were allowed and whose names were restored before the prescribed polling cut-off could vote. The EC said only 1,607 deleted voters were restored in time to vote.

The backlog has therefore become more than an administrative problem. It raises a basic question about the timing of electoral justice: if a voter’s eligibility remains unresolved when polling arrives, a decision that comes later may restore the name but cannot restore a vote that has already been missed. The proposed 42-tribunal system is intended to address that gap, but its effectiveness will depend on how quickly and consistently the additional capacity is actually deployed.