Former Calcutta HC Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam disposed 1,777 SIR-related appeals before resigning from tribunal

Former Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court T S Sivagnanam disposed of 1,777 appeals linked to deletion of voter names during West Bengal’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise before stepping down from the appellate tribunal.

Justice Sivagnanam was among 19 former judges appointed by the Election Commission under directions of the Supreme Court of India to hear appeals arising from electoral roll revision disputes.

According to PTI report, the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), the former judge cleared 1,717 appeals filed by voters seeking restoration of names deleted from electoral rolls during the SIR process.

In addition, he dismissed 60 appeals filed by the Election Commission of India challenging fresh voter inclusions in Birbhum district.

EC officials said he was initially assigned cases from constituencies in Kolkata and North 24 Parganas following his appointment through a March 20 notification.

Later, acting on Supreme Court directions in specific petitions, he also heard matters related to Malda, Murshidabad and Birbhum districts.

"His tribunal disposed of 1,777 appeals within a short span. The process was conducted in accordance with the legal framework laid down for the revision exercise," a senior Election Commission official said, added the report.

Figures available a day before the completion of polling showed that 1,607 voters whose names had been deleted were eventually reinstated after tribunals allowed their appeals.

The disposal figures from Justice Sivagnanam’s tribunal have since sparked discussions in political and legal circles over the number of appeals handled by the remaining 18 tribunals and whether more voters could have been restored to the rolls before polling ended.

An EC official, however, said appellate proceedings continued simultaneously across districts and names were restored only after scrutiny of supporting documents, said the report.

"The tribunals were independent adjudicatory bodies. Wherever documentary proof was found satisfactory, names were restored in keeping with the rules," the official said, according to PTI report.

Justice Sivagnanam also heard the appeal of Congress leader Motab Shaikh after directions from the Supreme Court. Shaikh, whose name had been removed from the electoral rolls ahead of the election, was later reinstated after the tribunal examined the documents submitted by him, allowing him to contest from Farakka, a seat he eventually won.