Kolkata: Over 85,000 appeals from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area are pending before SIR appellate tribunals, many filed by deleted voters who could not participate in the April assembly elections and are set to be barred from the upcoming civic polls as well. The KMC elections will be held based on the electoral roll published by Election Commission of India on July 1.The tribunals, set up following a Supreme Court order, are hearing appeals against the exclusion of names from, as well as inclusion in, the Bengal electoral roll during the SIR.According to an EC report submitted in the apex court, containing data updated till Sept 10, 29,790 appeals were filed before the tribunals from the Kolkata North electoral district, which is made of seven assembly seats. Of them, the names of 1,042 appellants have been included in the electoral roll. No name has been excluded from the list, which means all remaining 28,748 appeals were pending as of Sept 10.The Kolkata South electoral district, which comprises four assembly seats, accounts for 39,979 appeals filed. The names of only 867 have been added back to the voters’ list and no name has been deleted yet. The EC report said 22,521 appeals were filed from those sections of five assembly segments in the South 24 Parganas electoral district that come under KMC. Of them, 4,936 names have been added back and four excluded.TOI did not count Metiabruz, also in the South 24 Parganas electoral district, as only a small part of it is under KMC.Senior state officials experienced in conducting elections said the majority of the appeals had been filed by people whose names were deleted from the electoral roll during the special intensive revision. Stripped of their franchise, they could not vote in the assembly polls in April and will also be prevented from voting in the KMC elections, scheduled for later this year.Abdul Majid Khan, a resident of central Kolkata, was among those who could not vote in the assembly polls. “My name was put ‘under adjudication’ and I filed an appeal immediately after tribunals started accepting appeals. I have not heard anything since. It seems I won’t be able to vote in the KMC elections,” he said. “I submitted all relevant documents. I have a passport and travelled abroad after filing the appeal, but I am not allowed to vote.”Bengal’s State Election Commissioner Krishna Gupta has said elections to KMC, Howrah Municipal Corporation and six municipalities will be completed by the first week of Dec. “The elections will be held based on the electoral roll published by EC on July 1,” Gupta had said earlier.“This is a blatant attempt to take away people’s rights again,” Mamata All India Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said on Wednesday, referring to the possibility of a large number of Kolkatans being denied their franchise for a second time in a year.
