Opposition leaders, activists urge SEC to delay Bengal civic polls till SSR to enrol voters is complete

Opposition leaders and civil rights activists are asking State Election Commissioner Krishna Gupta to delay upcoming municipality elections in West Bengal. They want polling to happen only after the Special Summary Revision, or SSR, of electoral rolls is completed. The final revised roll is scheduled for January 4, 2027, unless the Election Commission of India sets a later date.

Their concern is that many people whose names were deleted during the earlier Special Intensive Revision still have inclusion appeals pending. Around 1.2 lakh appeals concern the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area, while about 39,000 concern Howrah Municipal Corporation. The delegation says excluding these appellants could deny them a vote again.

The petitioners also offered an alternative. They asked the Commissioner to use his statutory powers to add all Tribunal appellants to the rolls for Kolkata, Howrah, and other civic bodies before elections. This would address the pending cases without necessarily waiting for the SSR to finish.

A Special Summary Revision, or SSR, is an exercise to update electoral rolls. In this case, the Election Commission of India announced it on October 15 across 17 States and Union Territories. The stated purpose is to include new voters and people who were left out during the earlier Special Intensive Revision, or SIR.

The process includes publication of a draft roll, followed by the handling of claims, objections, and corrections before the final roll appears. The article gives two important dates: November 12 for the draft roll and January 4 for the final roll. These dates matter because civic elections may occur while the revision is still underway.

Opposition leaders and activists want West Bengal’s municipal elections delayed until the SSR concludes. They argue that polling before the final roll could leave many Tribunal appellants excluded. The petitioners therefore connect the revision timetable directly to whether affected residents can participate in upcoming civic elections.

The delegation reported roughly 1.6 lakh pending appeals seeking voter inclusion across the Kolkata and Howrah municipal areas. About 1.2 lakh appeals are pending within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, or KMC, jurisdiction. Another approximately 39,000 are pending within the Howrah Municipal Corporation, or HMC, jurisdiction.

These figures represent people challenging their exclusion from the electoral rolls. The delegation told the State Election Commissioner that many appeals resulted from large-scale voter deletions during the Special Intensive Revision. It warned that holding municipal elections before these cases are resolved could leave the appellants outside the rolls used for voting.

The article also gives a striking outcome for cases already decided. It says 100% of disposed appeals in Kolkata and 99% in Howrah were decided in favour of inclusion. On that basis, the petitioners argue that excluding the remaining appellants could disenfranchise them for a second time after the Assembly polls.

The petitioners want the civic polls held after January 4 because that is when the final Special Summary Revision roll is expected to be published. Waiting would give the revision process time to add new voters and people previously left out during the Special Intensive Revision. It would also reduce the risk of holding elections with incomplete rolls.

The concern is especially serious in Kolkata and Howrah. Around 1.2 lakh inclusion appeals are pending in KMC and about 39,000 in HMC. The delegation says every disposed Kolkata appeal and 99% of disposed Howrah appeals so far were decided in favour of inclusion. This pattern supports its concern that many current appellants may eventually be added.

The petitioners say excluding these people from municipal elections would disenfranchise them for a second time after the Assembly polls. They ask the State Election Commissioner to wait until January 4, or any later date chosen by the Election Commission of India.

The Tribunal acts as the forum where excluded people can appeal for inclusion in the electoral roll. The article does not name the Tribunal or detail its procedures, but it reports that large numbers of inclusion appeals are pending before it. These appeals concern people whose names were deleted or omitted during the Special Intensive Revision.

The delegation cited outcomes from cases already decided. It said 100% of disposed appeals in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area were decided in favour of inclusion. In Howrah Municipal Corporation, 99% of disposed appeals were decided in favour of inclusion. These figures form a central part of the petitioners’ argument.

Because many cases remain pending, the delegation says the appellants should not be left out of upcoming civic elections. It asked the State Election Commissioner either to delay the polls until the electoral-roll revision is complete or to include all Tribunal appellants directly in the relevant rolls.

The petitioners proposed a second route if West Bengal’s civic elections are not postponed. They asked the State Election Commissioner to exercise statutory powers to include the names of all Tribunal appellants in the electoral rolls used for municipal elections. This would address the immediate risk created by unresolved appeals.

Their request covers the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Howrah Municipal Corporation, as well as other municipal corporations and municipalities. The suggested mechanism is direct inclusion by the Commissioner, rather than waiting for every appeal to be decided or for the SSR process to reach its final roll.

The proposal follows the delegation’s claim that nearly all disposed cases favoured inclusion. It says 100% of disposed Kolkata appeals and 99% of disposed Howrah appeals were decided in favour of applicants. The alternative therefore seeks to prevent the pending appellants from being excluded while the broader electoral-roll process continues.

The electoral roll is the official list used to identify people who may vote in a particular election. If a person’s name is missing, the person is not recorded as an eligible voter for that polling process. Election officials generally rely on this list to verify voters before allowing ballots to be cast.

That is why the petitioners describe exclusion from the roll as disenfranchisement. Their memorandum says around 1.6 lakh Tribunal appellants in the Kolkata and Howrah municipal jurisdictions could be excluded from civic elections. The delegation argues that this would deny them the vote for a second time after the Assembly polls.

The article reports that most disposed appeals resulted in inclusion: 100% in Kolkata and 99% in Howrah. The petitioners therefore want the elections delayed until the SSR final roll is published on January 4, or want all Tribunal appellants added directly. Either step would address the risk of eligible applicants being unable to vote.