AGENCIES

Trinamool Congress (TMC) yesterday claimed that deletions in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll materially affected the results in certain assembly constituencies in West Bengal.

The claim was made during a hearing in the Supreme Court of India before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.

TMC leader and senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee submitted that in 31 constituencies, the BJP’s winning margin over the TMC was less than the number of persons deleted in the SIR adjudication process, LiveLaw reported.

In many cases, the deletions and the margin of defeat were almost the same, he added.

Banerjee submitted that one candidate lost by 862 votes in a constituency where over 5,432 persons were removed from the rolls for adjudication. He claimed that the vote gap between the TMC and the BJP was nearly 32 lakh, and nearly 35 lakh appeals were pending before the appellate tribunals.

He also referred to an earlier observation made by Justice Bagchi that if the winning margin was less than the number of deleted voters, the matter might require judicial examination.

The Election Commission opposed the submissions, saying the remedy was an election petition and that the poll panel could not be held accountable for issues related to the SIR and consequential appeals against the addition or deletion of votes.

The top court bench said that former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and others could file fresh applications regarding their claims.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal police yesterday arrested three suspects in connection with the killing of Chandranath Rath, an aide to state Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.