West Bengal SIR | 37 Lakh Appeals Pending; Less Than 3% Disposed By Appellate Tribunals : ECI Tells Supreme Court

In the West Bengal SIR matter, the Election Commission has filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court stating that over 97% of the appeals filed before Appellate Tribunals are pending disposal. 

The affidavit, filed on September 16, mentions that a total of over 38 lakh (38,20,683) appeals were filed before the Appellate Tribunals. Out of these, only 1,02,231 (roughly 2.68%) have been disposed of, while 37,18,452 remain to be decided. 

Notably, the Commission has not furnished bifurcated data to the Court on the number of appeals filed against exclusions vis-a-vis the number of appeals filed against inclusions. On the last hearing date, the petitioners, based on RTI information, had told the Supreme Court that over 80% of the appeals have been filed by third-parties challenging the inclusion in voters lists, and the appeals filed by excluded voters form only about 20%. 

The district-wise data on the Appellate Tribunals' disposal has been given as follows- 

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V. Mohana is hearing the West Bengal SIR matter. On August 11, the Court had directed the Election Commission of India to furnish details on the quantum of disposals of appeals by the Appellate Tribunals. The direction was passed in the petition filed by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhary seeking directions to streamline and expedite the disposals by Appellate Tribunals. 

At the time, the court orally said that it cannot fix timelines for decisions by the Appellate Tribunals, but agreed to monitor their functioning. 

Subsequently, in the main WB SIR matter, the Court directed the ECI to file an affidavit giving the following details:

1. Number of appeals pending in the Tribunals?

2. A break-up of the appeals filed at the instance of the excluded persons, and the appeals against inclusions.

3. How many appeals have so far been disposed of, including the nature of relief sought in those appeals?

4. How many appeals have been allowed and what consequential steps are being taken for updating the electoral rolls pursuant to such orders. 

During this hearing, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan suggested to the Court that appeals pending in Kolkata and Howrah may be prioritized, as Municipal elections in these districts are to be held in December. He further suggested that appeals filed by persons excluded from the rolls may be given priority, claiming (based on an RTI reply) that nearly 80% of the total appeals filed in West Bengal pertain to inclusion in the electoral rolls (therefore seeking disenfranchisement). 

Notably, ECI's affidavit indicates that a total of 2,29,060 appeals are pending in districts of Kolkata (North and South) and Howrah. If all appeals pending in districts of Kolkata and Howrah are prioritized, the Tribunals, which have disposed of 5,485 appeals since their constitution, would have to decide 2,29,060 appeals in about 2.5 months. 

On the last date, the Supreme Court had also indicated that directions can be passed for additional Tribunals, if required. While Sankaranarayanan said that additional tribunals may not be required if appeals against exclusions are prioritized, the Court called on the ECI to explain if additional tribunals are required and what steps have been taken to streamline disposals. Justice Bagchi particularly said that depending on the break-up (exclusions v. inclusions), some directions can be issued to prioritize, as it was exclusion which was causing an immediate violation of a person's rights. 

Case Title – Mostari Banu v. Election Commission of India and Ors W.P.(C) No. 1089/2025 (and connected cases)