Mostari Banu & Ors v Election Commission of India & Ors, with connected petitions including Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury v Election Commission of India

Commission notifies 19 appellate tribunals for West Bengal SIR appeals

Following a Supreme Court order of 10 March 2026, the Commission notified 19 appellate tribunals, each a single retired High Court judge, to hear appeals against judicial officers' decisions. They began work on 13 April, days before the 23 and 29 April polls, and restored 1,607 electors in time to vote.

The Commission's notification after the 10 Mar 2026 order

Supreme Court orders central forces to protect judicial officers on SIR duty

After seven judicial officers conducting West Bengal's SIR were surrounded for hours by protesters objecting to their deletion from the voter list, the Supreme Court ordered deployment of central armed forces to protect judicial officers carrying out the revision.

Supreme Court says it cannot fix a timeline for SIR appellate tribunals

Hearing Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's plea over the roughly 34 lakh voters deleted in West Bengal's SIR, the Supreme Court said it could not fix a deadline for the appellate tribunals to decide appeals, though it would monitor their functioning, and directed the Commission to produce data on disposal rates. Justice Bagchi noted that at current rates the backlog would take about 21 years to clear. The case was adjourned to 25 August 2026.

Supreme Court weighs whether SIR deletions exceeding poll margins matter

On a Trinamool Congress claim that in 31 constituencies the number of voters deleted in the SIR exceeded the winning margin, the Chief Justice asked aloud whether the Court could direct fresh elections on that basis. Justice Bagchi said the point could become relevant if an election result itself came to be decided by the Court. The bench directed that all pending appeals, not only those in the 31 flagged constituencies, be examined.

ECI tells Supreme Court 37.18 lakh West Bengal appeals still pending

In a counter-affidavit on a petition by Congress leader Prasenjit Bose, ECI said 38,20,683 appeals had been filed before the tribunals, 1,02,231 (2.68%) disposed of and 37,18,452 pending. It did not split appeals by inclusion or exclusion. Between the draft and 7 August 2026, 34.13 lakh Form 6 were filed (14,079 accepted, 7.26 lakh rejected, 4.86 lakh unprocessed) and 6.39 lakh Form 7 (3,355 accepted, 14,506 rejected).

ECI: elections can be challenged only by election petition

ECI replied that elections can be questioned only through an election petition under the representation of the people law, and that the applicant had mixed draft-stage absent/shifted/dead/duplicate removals with adjudication deletions. It said the TMC had itself won 21 seats where the margin was below adjudication deletions, and defended the judicial officers' work.

TMC's O'Brien seeks cancellation of results in 31 seats over SIR deletions

In an application before the Supreme Court, TMC MP Derek O'Brien sought cancellation of results in 31 West Bengal Assembly constituencies where, he argued, SIR deletions exceeded the margin of victory or defeat.

ECI: 22.21 lakh appeals by deleted voters, 16.10 lakh seek more deletions

Replying to an application by TMC MP Derek O'Brien, ECI told the Supreme Court that of 38,31,429 appeals, 22,21,118 were by people seeking restoration and 16,10,311 challenged names included by judicial officers. 1,26,194 had been disposed of and 37,05,235 were pending. ECI did not say who filed the appeals against inclusion, and proposed raising the tribunals from 19 to 42.