Supreme Court allows Mamata Banerjee, and other leaders to file fresh plea if victory margin lower than deleted votes

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and others can file fresh applications on their claim that the victory margins were less than the deletion of votes during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in various Assembly constituencies. 

Senior advocate and TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee contended before a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi that in 31 seats in West Bengal, victory margins were less than the number of votes deleted.

He added that in many cases, the deletions and the loss margin were almost the same. 

Opposing the submissions, senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, appearing for the Election Commission contended that the remedy was an election petition.

Banerjee contended that one candidate lost by 862 votes in a constituency where over 5,432 persons were removed from the rolls for adjudication. The bench said that an interlocutory application can be filed with the requisite details.

"Whatever you want to say about results...which may have materially affected because of deletions which are under adjudication...that requires an independent application,'' the bench said. 

The bench was informed that ex-High Court Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam has resigned as a member of the appellate tribunal.

"What can we do? We can't compel anyone," the bench said, adding that the priority will be to ensure that appeals are decided in an expeditious manner. 

Senior Advocate and TMC MP Menaka Guruswamy submitted that at the present rate, the appellate tribunals will take at least four years to dispose of the appeals.

She asked the bench to pass an order stating that SIR deletions can be a ground to file an election petition. 

"How can we pass such an order," the bench asked, adding, it will examine the matter if a proper application is filed.

In the recently concluded Assembly elections in the state, the BJP secured 207 seats in the 294-member Assembly, while TMC won 80 seats. The state registered a record voter turnout of above 90 per cent in the polls. The bench was hearing a batch of petitions, including the one filed by Mamata Banerjee, related to the SIR of electoral rolls in the state.