Dozen Bengal Tribunal judges flag their EC portal: ‘Can’t serve notices, hold hearings or restore deleted voters’
Source Entity
Damini Nath, Atri Mitra
Nearly 19,000 voters in West Bengal are disenfranchised for upcoming bypolls due to dysfunctional election tribunals. Technical failures in the ECI portal and judicial vacancies have crippled the appeal process for millions.
The Crisis of Disenfranchisement in West Bengal
The democratic process in West Bengal is facing a severe administrative crisis as nearly 19,000 voters in the Nandigram and Rejinagar constituencies prepare to head to the polls on October 6, 2026. These citizens are among a staggering 38.31 lakh voters across the state who remain disenfranchised following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The failure to process these appeals effectively threatens the integrity of the upcoming byelections, highlighting a systemic breakdown in the mechanism intended to protect the franchise.
Structural Failures in Appellate Tribunals
The Election Commission of India (ECI) established 19 Appellate Tribunals in March to adjudicate these disputes. However, the system is currently paralyzed. Three retired judges—Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, Justice Ranjit Bag, and Justice Indrajit Chatterjee—have resigned, citing functional inadequacies, leaving their posts vacant. With only 16 of the 19 tribunals operational, the backlog is mounting at an alarming rate. The Calcutta High Court has noted that, given the current processing speed, it would take an estimated 21 years to clear the total pending appeals, rendering the current remedy virtually useless for the affected electorate.
Technological Hurdles and Digital Impotence
Beyond personnel shortages, the tribunals are hampered by a deeply flawed digital infrastructure. Judges from over a dozen tribunals have formally reported that the ECI-provided IT portal is functionally deficient. Specifically, the portal lacks the capacity to serve notices, host virtual hearings, or allow for the uploading of essential voter documentation. Furthermore, the system prohibits the restoration of deleted voters and prevents appellants from downloading tribunal orders, effectively creating a bureaucratic black hole that bars citizens from exercising their constitutional rights.
The Constitutional Stakes
The gravity of this situation extends to the foundational principles of Indian democracy. Justice Ujjal Bhuyan has poignantly described the large-scale disenfranchisement resulting from the SIR process as a violation of the Constitution, equating the removal of a citizen's right to vote to “taking out the soul from the body.” The investigation into these events suggests that the ECI, once a robust multi-member constitutional authority, is struggling to maintain necessary internal checks and balances, leading to a focus on administrative expediency over the protection of voter rights.
Conclusion and Future Implications
The inability of the ECI to resolve these appeals in time for the Nandigram and Rejinagar byelections serves as a cautionary tale regarding the reliance on digital systems without adequate human oversight or technical testing. As the backlog continues to grow, the disenfranchisement of millions of voters risks eroding public trust in the electoral process. Without immediate intervention to fill judicial vacancies and overhaul the failing digital portal, the state faces a protracted period where thousands of citizens remain excluded from the democratic exercise, casting a long shadow over the legitimacy of future electoral outcomes.
Multiple Citing Sources