Indian Courts Hear Voter Exclusion Pleas in West Bengal and Maharashtra
The Supreme Court of India and Bombay High Court are reviewing challenges to the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls across two states.
The Election Commission of India is facing legal challenges in two states over its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with courts reviewing allegations of massive voter exclusion.
In West Bengal, the Supreme Court of India declined to advance a hearing on the SIR process, scheduling it instead for October 5. The request for an earlier date was driven by upcoming by-elections in the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly constituencies on October 6. Legal counsel argued that thousands of voters remain excluded from the rolls for the second time since April 2026. An affidavit from the Election Commission revealed a backlog of over 37 lakh pending appeals across 19 tribunals, with only 1,26,194 decided as of September. To address this, the commission suggested increasing the number of appellate tribunals to 42.
Simultaneously, the Bombay High Court agreed on September 28 to hear a petition regarding the SIR implementation in Maharashtra. The plea, filed by two businessmen, alleges that flaws in the process could lead to the wrongful deletion of approximately 21 million citizens' names. The petitioners are seeking transparency regarding the methodology and legal basis of the operation, arguing that the Election Commission cannot independently determine citizenship under the Citizenship Act of 1955. The Bombay High Court has also scheduled its hearing for October 5.
