TMC claims SIR deleted more votes than BJP's margin in 31 Bengal seats, SC responds

KOLKATA, May 11: Trinamool Congress (TMC) claimed on Monday 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 before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice JoymlayaBagchi. 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 loss margin were almost the same, he added.

Banerjee submitted that one candidate lost by 862 votes in a constituency where over 5432 persons were removed from the rolls for adjudication. He claimed that the vote gap between the TMC and the BJP was nearly 32 lakhs, and nearly 35 lakh appeals were pending before the appellate tribunals.    �"HT