Oppositions in West Bengal question ECI over 16.10 lakh appeals against inclusion of voters

\Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP Mohammad Salim. File

Opposition parties in West Bengal have stepped up the heat on the issue of 16.10 lakh appeals filed against the inclusion of voters following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the State.

Leaders of the Mamata All India Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have questioned the lack of clarity over who authorised the filing of the appeals after the SIR concluded in the State.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) West Bengal State secretary Mohammad Salim described the development as a “ghostly affair”, with officials shifting responsibility.

“Everyone is busy dodging responsibility. Is it some ghostly affair? The responsibility of disenfranchising lakhs upon lakhs of citizens must surely fall on #CEC and #CEO for washing their hands clean,” Mr. Salim said.

The CPI(M) leader was referring to a recent statement by Subrata Gupta, former special observer appointed by the Election Commission of India for the West Bengal SIR exercise, who reportedly said that he had “no information” about the CEO office filing lakhs of appeals seeking to remove voters whose names had been cleared by judicial officers.

In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on October 26, the ECI said the appeals had not been brought to its notice earlier and that a communication dated October 22 was received from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, stating that its officials had filed the appeals in their capacity as authorities under the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The commission further said that the “officers had the authority to file the appeals as per the orders of this Hon’ble (Supreme) Court”.

The Mamata AITC leadership also questioned the role of the ECI in filing lakhs of appeals seeking to remove voters whose names had been cleared.

“Staying delulu is ECI’s one and only solulu!. The Election Commission’s special observer - Subrata Gupta (now advisor to CM Suvendu Adhikari) - during West Bengal’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has told The Wire that he had no information about the Chief Electoral Officer’s office filing lakhs of appeals seeking to remove voters whose names had been cleared by judicial officers,” the party said in a post on social media.

The post cited a report from The Wire and said it raised serious questions about the “functioning and accountability of the @ECISVEEP, particularly amid allegations of institutional opacity and the clear lack of oversight”.

“All this, under the political protection of @BJP4India@narendramodi, YOU HAVE BRUTALLY MURDERED DEMOCRACY. Serious consequences are looming for both Gyanesh Kumar and Manoj Agarwal for stealing West Bengal elections,” the post said.

The Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the Trinamool Congress has accused the ECI of “stealing” the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections by deleting about 91 lakh electors from the electoral rolls during the SIR exercise. After the BJP came to power in West Bengal, Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal was appointed Chief Secretary, while Subrata Gupta was appointed advisor to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.

The SIR process was held in West Bengal from October 2025 to February 2026, just before the Assembly election. The exercise resulted in the deletion of 91 lakh electors from the electoral rolls, accounting for about 13% of the total electorate in the State before the start of the voter list revision.

According to an affidavit filed by the ECI in September, 27 lakh electors were excluded on the ground of ‘logical discrepancies’. Of these, over 22 lakh voters had filed appeals challenging their exclusion. The affidavit also added that 16.10 lakh appeals had been filed against inclusion. The fate of about 38 lakh electors still hangs in the balance before SIR tribunals set up by the ECI.

India / Bengal / Kolkata / Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls / Election Commission of India