Prasenjit Bose, a Congress leader and social activist, asserted on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, that the high rate of voter restoration by appellate tribunals in West Bengal provides clear evidence of genuine electors being wrongfully removed from the rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Bose, who chairs the SIR Committee of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, emphasized that this situation deprived legitimate voters of their right to participate in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election.
Tribunals, constituted by the Supreme Court to hear appeals against deletions, had disposed of 6,581 cases by May 14, 2026. Of these, 4,043 electors, or 61%, had their names restored to the voter list. Bose stated this outcome demonstrates how "genuine electors were wrongfully deleted under SIR through opaque, arbitrary and discriminatory processes."
The state's electoral rolls saw over 27 lakh voters initially excluded on April 7, weeks before the assembly polls. Around 25 lakh appeals against these deletions are reportedly still pending before the tribunals. A quarter of these exclusions were reported in two Muslim-dominated districts.
On the same day Bose made his remarks, the Supreme Court upheld a similar SIR exercise in Bihar. The court ruled that the Bihar exercise could not be invalidated simply for not strictly adhering to modalities. Bose noted that electors in Bihar, whose names were erroneously deleted on ASDD grounds, have the option to challenge the decision through judicial review. He called for the specific judicial forum where aggrieved electors can file their appeals or challenges to be clearly specified.
Opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, Congress, and Communist Party of India (Marxist), had previously voiced strong opposition to the SIR. Their concerns focused particularly on the deletion of 27 lakh electors who had traced their legacy link to the 2022 electoral rolls but were excluded on grounds of "logical discrepancy." Many political observers have linked these extensive SIR deletions to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s massive victory in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls.
