Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Election Commission, acting on directions of Supreme Court and recommendations of Calcutta HC chief justice, on Friday constituted 19 appellate tribunals for hearing appeals against orders passed by designated judicial officers in Bengal in respect of inclusion or exclusion of prospective electors in the state’s electoral roll.Consequent upon the publication of the supplementary electoral roll – after adjudication of ‘doubtful’ cases under SIR by judicial officers – an appellant may file appeals against the orders passed by the designated judicial officers, said EC in a notification issued on Friday.The tribunals, which will hear appeals as per districts or a set of districts, will be headed by former judges, including ex-HC chief justice T S Sivagnanam, who will preside over the appellate tribunal for 24 Parganas North (assembly constituency-wise) and Kolkata districts.The tribunals, likely to be operational by Monday, will be in existence till all appeals are disposed of. Given that the electoral roll is frozen on the last day of nomination, the supplementary lists should be out at the latest by a day prior to the issue of poll notification, giving a week to the tribunals to hear appeals.In case the appeals are decided by the last day of nomination – April 6 for phase 1 and April 9 for phase 2 – those approved for inclusion in the rolls by the tribunals shall be able to vote in the upcoming elections.For those who don’t pass the tribunal test or don’t have their appeals heard before this deadline, the implications are much more than just not being able to vote. If the tribunals rule them as ineligible to be in the roll – essentially for being non-citizens – they will have to be confined to detention centres and deported to their country of origin.Sources in the commission said the tribunals needed to be set up before the supplementary lists were published to offer clarity to those included or excluded from the supplementary list on how and where to file an appeal. As per the EC notification, the appeal may be filed online through the ECINet platform or physically at the office of the DMdistrict magistrate, SDM or SDO concerned.While one tribunal each has been constituted for Purba Medinipur, Coochbehar, Purba Bardhaman, Nadia, Howrah, Dakshin Dinajpur, 24 Parganas South, Hooghly, Paschim Bardhaman, Uttar Dinajpur, Birbhum and Malda districts; four tribunals will hear appeals for two sets of districts; the combination being 24 Parganas (AC wise) and Kolkata; Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar; Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram; and Purulia and Bankura.
