In a fresh political controversy, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday alleged that deletions carried out during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls materially impacted the results in several assembly constituencies in West Bengal.

The issue was raised in the Supreme Court before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. Senior advocate and TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee argued that in 31 constituencies, the BJP’s margin of victory over the TMC was lower than the number of voters deleted during the SIR adjudication process, according to a LiveLaw report.

“In many cases, the deletions and the loss margin were almost the same,” Banerjee submitted before the court.

He further stated that in one constituency, a candidate lost by just 862 votes, while over 5,432 people had been removed from the electoral rolls for adjudication. Banerjee also claimed that the overall vote difference between the TMC and the BJP stood at nearly 32 lakh votes, while around 35 lakh appeals were pending before appellate tribunals.

The TMC MP also referred to an earlier observation by Justice Bagchi, who had noted that if the winning margin in a constituency was lower than the number of deleted voters, the matter could warrant judicial scrutiny.

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However, the Election Commission opposed the submissions, arguing that the appropriate remedy would be through an election petition. The poll panel maintained that issues arising out of the SIR process and appeals related to the addition or deletion of voters could be addressed through existing legal mechanisms.

The Supreme Court bench observed that former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and others were free to file fresh applications regarding their claims.

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“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 said.