The assembly election in West Bengal, which took place under the shadow of a controversial Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, may be over. That should not be the reason for the state and its minders to forget about the plight of those who were disenfranchised by an SIR that was deemed exclusionary. The electoral fate of this constituency, now being scrutinised by judicial tribunals set up on instructions of the Supreme Court, has a bearing not only on the quality of Indian democracy but also its claim of being a welfare State. The task of the tribunals is formidable: more than 34 lakh appeals — the majority of these pertain to voter deletions — need to be decided. Of the 19 tribunals, the work of one has been impeded following the resignation of the former chief justice of the Calcutta High Court. Worryingly, only two of the remaining 18, reports suggest, are conducting in-person hearings. The volume of virtual hearings remains sketchy: many of the applicants lack the wherewithal to attend online proceedings. The pace of disposal is unclear, even though the Supreme Court has, on more than one occasion, underlined the need for the proceedings to be transparent. This has raised concerns that the proceedings could continue for a prolonged period: will they be over by the time Bengal votes again?
There are other related developments that seem ominous. For instance, the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Bengal has announced that those whose names were deleted in the SIR, including people whose appeals are pending before the tribunals, would not, for the time being, be entitled to receive benefits under programmes such as the Annapurna Bhandar scheme. This defies the principles of natural justice. Withholding welfare benefits from the needy, even provisionally, passes the burden of proof of eligibility to besieged citizens, many of whom claim that their names were deleted arbitrarily in the SIR. These claims cannot be dismissed; several electors had their voting rights restored by the tribunals. Bihar has made noises similar to Bengal. Is a new, contentious chapter on public welfare unfolding?