The Bengal bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar are being contested amid more than 18,000 pending appeals against voter-roll decisions, with the tribunals having disposed of only 93 cases ahead of the October 6 polling date. The backlog has brought the issue of deleted voters back to the centre of political campaigning in both constituencies.
According to figures reported by the Times of India, more than 12,000 appeals remain pending in Rejinagar and over 6,000 in Nandigram. Only 89 appeals in Nandigram and four in Rejinagar have been disposed of during the past few months. All 93 decisions went in favour of the appellants, the report said.
The pending cases relate to the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of electoral rolls. Political parties in both constituencies have raised concerns that genuine voters may have been excluded from the rolls. The issue is particularly prominent in minority-dominated areas, according to campaign statements cited in the report.
Santigopal Giri, the Left Front candidate in Nandigram, said that he had met families in which some members remained on the electoral roll while others had been removed. “People are asking us why this happened, but we have no explanation,” he said.
Prasenjit Bose, chairperson of the Bengal Congress’s SIR committee, said the disposal of 93 appeals in favour of appellants showed that the excluded voters were genuine electors. His claim was made in the context of the tribunal decisions reported so far.
The BJP’s Bengal spokesperson Debjit Sarkar described the exclusion of some genuine electors as “collateral damage”. He also said that the Supreme Court was monitoring the appeals process and that the Election Commission had filed an affidavit, adding that the party should not comment further.
The Nandigram bypoll was necessitated after Suvendu Adhikari gave up the constituency and retained Bhabanipur, where he defeated former chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Adhikari had won Nandigram by 9,665 votes in the May assembly election. The BJP has fielded Hasirani Rath, the mother of Adhikari’s former personal assistant Chandranath Rath, for the bypoll.
Rejinagar fell vacant after Aam Janata Unnayan Party leader Humayun Kabir retained Nawda in Murshidabad after winning both constituencies in May. The BJP has nominated former district president Sankharav Sarkar. He is contesting against Trinamool Congress candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury and Left candidate Saeed Asad Ali.
The voter-roll issue has become a recurring campaign subject in Rejinagar, where the number of pending appeals is substantially higher. Chowdhury said voters continued to discuss the removal of names from the rolls and identified SIR, the non-disbursement of the Annapurna Yojana and price rise as key campaign issues.
The tribunals’ handling of the remaining appeals, along with the Election Commission’s affidavit and the Supreme Court’s monitoring of the process, will determine what further developments occur before polling in the two constituencies on October 6.
