Bengal SIR: EC portal hurdles put deleted voters' appeals at risk

New Delhi: Serious technological gaps in the Election Commission of India’s digital portal are hampering the functioning of tribunals set up to hear appeals against voter deletions in West Bengal, with judges flagging problems that could obstruct the due process promised to millions of electors.

More than a dozen tribunal judges have recorded concerns over the portal developed by the ECI’s IT division. According to minutes of their August 11 meeting, the system lacks basic facilities needed to conduct appeals efficiently, including mechanisms to formally notify parties, upload additional documents, conduct virtual hearings and restore names removed from the electoral rolls. Appellants also cannot use the portal to obtain copies of tribunal orders.

The concerns are particularly significant because the tribunals were created at the Supreme Court’s direction to provide an appellate avenue for voters affected by the Special Intensive Revision. Judicial officers had examined 60.06 lakh electors flagged for “logical discrepancies” by the ECI, eventually ordering the deletion of 27.16 lakh names. The Supreme Court subsequently directed the creation of appellate tribunals, and 19 single-member tribunals comprising retired High Court judges were notified on March 20.

The judges have also highlighted difficulties in handling appeals submitted in person to District Magistrates and District Election Officers, as the portal lacks a reliable mechanism for digitising and tracking such records. Without proper digitisation, they warned, some appeals could effectively fall outside the system, according to a report by The Indian Express.

The problems had been flagged before the August meeting. On May 22, a tribunal judge reportedly wrote to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, warning that the absence of a notification mechanism was slowing the disposal of cases and raising concerns about the accuracy of n the number of appeals settled.

The scale of the backlog adds to the concern. By September 18, the ECI had informed the Supreme Court that 38.20 lakh appeals had been filed, while only 1.02 lakh had been disposed of. A subsequent submission put the total at 38.31 lakh, including 22.21 lakh appeals from deleted voters seeking restoration and 16.10 lakh appeals challenging inclusions.

The concerns come amid wider scrutiny of the ECI’s digital systems. Two Election Commissioners had earlier raised objections over aspects of the Commission’s decision-making and access restrictions in ECINET, prompting the ECI to announce a review involving an independent expert.

With millions of voter appeals still pending, the tribunal judges’ warnings expose a troubling mismatch between the Supreme Court-mandated safeguards and the technological infrastructure meant to deliver them. The Election Commission and the Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court were approached for responses to the judges’ concerns, but no response had been received, according to the report.