TMC tells Supreme Court deleted votes exceeded BJP’s win margin in 31 Bengal seats

Trinamool Congress told the Supreme Court that voter deletions during the Special Intensive Revision process exceeded the BJP’s victory margins in several West Bengal constituencies

PGurus Newsdesk

May 11, 2026

The TMC told the Supreme Court that voter deletions during the SIR process exceeded BJP victory margins in 31 West Bengal constituencies

Supreme Court hears TMC plea over Bengal voter deletions and SIR process

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday told the Supreme Court that deletions carried out during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls may have materially impacted the outcome of several assembly seats in West Bengal.

The submissions were made during a hearing before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.

Senior advocate and TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee argued that in at least 31 constituencies, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory margin was lower than the number of voters deleted during the SIR adjudication process, according to a report by LiveLaw.

Banerjee told the court that in several cases, the number of deleted voters closely matched the defeat margin faced by TMC candidates. In one constituency, he said, a candidate lost by just 862 votes while over 5,400 voters were removed from the electoral rolls for adjudication.

He further claimed that although the overall vote difference between the TMC and the BJP stood at nearly 32 lakh votes, around 35 lakh appeals related to voter additions and deletions were still pending before appellate tribunals.

Referring to an earlier observation made by Justice Bagchi, Banerjee said the court had previously indicated that if the number of deleted voters exceeded the victory margin in a constituency, the matter could warrant judicial scrutiny.

The Election Commission opposed the submissions and argued that the proper remedy in such cases would be an election petition. The poll body maintained that challenges relating to the SIR process and appeals over additions or deletions in voter lists should be addressed through the established legal framework.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court said Mamata Banerjee and others were free to file fresh applications regarding claims that the deletions may have influenced election results.

“Whatever you want to say about results, which may have materially affected because of deletions which are under adjudication, that requires an independent Interlocutory Application (IA),” Justice Bagchi observed.

Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy also informed the bench that, at the current pace, appellate tribunals could take nearly four years to dispose of the pending appeals.

Responding to the concern, the Chief Justice said priority would be given to ensuring that the appeals are resolved expeditiously.

“We indicated to you… subsequent event: you are at liberty to file an IA. Mr Naidu’s objection will come as a counter. We will look into it and pass the order. On pendency of appeals, report from Hon’ble CJ required… to take stock in what timeline they can be resolved,” Justice Bagchi said.

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