TMC tells Supreme Court SIR may have altered Bengal results; top court responds

The observation came after the Trinamool Congress argued that the deletion of 90.8 lakh names from the electoral rolls may have materially affected the results in at least 31 constituencies that the party had won in 2021 but lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2026 Assembly election.

'Deleted voters outnumbered victory margins'

A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi heard submissions from senior advocate and Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee.

Banerjee told the court that in 31 constituencies, the number of voters removed during the SIR process exceeded the eventual margin of defeat.

In one example, he said a Trinamool candidate lost by 862 votes in a seat where more than 5,000 names were deleted from the electoral rolls.

He also submitted that the overall vote difference between the TMC and the BJP was around 32 lakh votes, while more than 35 lakh appeals against deletions remained pending.

Supreme Court responds

Responding to the submissions, the bench observed that if the number of disputed deletions was greater than the margin of victory, the aggrieved parties were free to move the court with fresh applications.

The Supreme Court had made a similar observation during an earlier hearing, and the Election Commission of India had also indicated that such seat-specific challenges could be pursued through appropriate legal proceedings.

Delay Concerns

Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, appearing for the Trinamool Congress, said that at the current pace, it could take nearly four years for appellate tribunals to clear the backlog of cases related to additions and deletions in the electoral rolls.

The bench noted that the appeals process could be improved and stressed the need for timely disposal.

Election Commission's argument

The Election Commission countered the Trinamool Congress’s argument by pointing to constituencies with high numbers of deletions where the TMC still emerged victorious.

According to the poll panel, constituencies such as Sujapur, Raghunathganj, Samserganj, Ratua and Suti recorded some of the highest numbers of deleted names, yet all five seats were won by the Trinamool Congress.

The Commission argued that the available data did not establish a direct link between voter deletions and electoral outcomes.

SIR debate dominated poll campaign

The Special Intensive Revision became a central issue during the Assembly election campaign.

The BJP linked the exercise to its campaign against illegal immigration from neighbouring Bangladesh, with which West Bengal shares a 2,217-kilometre border.

The Trinamool Congress alleged that the SIR exercise disproportionately affected poor and marginalised voters.

BJP's Bengal triumph

The BJP won 207 seats in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly, securing its first-ever government in the state.

The victory ended the Trinamool Congress’s 15-year rule under Mamata Banerjee and brought Suvendu Adhikari to power as chief minister.