• Estimated number of deleted voters: 25 lakh
• Number of cases heard by the tribunals: 1
• Days left to decide the remaining cases: 4

An SIR tribunal on Sunday ordered Congress candidate Mehtab Sheikh’s name restored to the rolls for his constituency, Farakka in Murshidabad, after checking his documents.

Mehtab is the first deleted Bengal voter cleared by a tribunal. None of the 19 tribunals has heard a single case except his so far, apparently because of “infrastructural issues”.

Mehtab’s circumstances as Congress nominee and wealthy contractor had allowed him to move the Supreme Court on April 2 and secure a directive to the tribunal to decide his case promptly, and to the Election Commission to cooperate fully.

Others may not be so fortunate, or privileged.

Poll panel sources said the judicial officers had decided 58 lakh among the 60.06 lakh “under adjudication” cases, and the rest would be done by Monday, April 6. They cited a 42 per cent rejection rate, which indicates about 25 lakh deletions.

April 6 is the last day for filing nominations for the first-phase seats, and April 9 for the second-phase seats. These are also the last dates for voter inclusion in the rolls for the respective phases.

Therefore, unless the Supreme Court extends the deadlines on Monday, the tribunals will have just one day to hear the appeals from deleted first-phase voters and four days for the rest.

Mehtab had, on the top court’s directions, petitioned the tribunal headed by former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam. The hearing took place at the retired judge’s residence in Bijan Bhavan, Salt Lake.

Cleared by the tribunal, Mehtab can finally file his nomination on Monday — deadline day for his first-phase constituency.

“However, it remains uncertain whether the tribunals would be able to hear and dispose of all the appeals within whatever time is left, as they are yet to function fully,” a poll panel source said.

“Mehtab Sheikh’s case is an exception, having been heard following specific directions from the Supreme Court.”

Mehtab Sheikh Sourced by The Telegraph

Those deleted have 15 days to approach the tribunals. Filing the appeals is a complicated process. While no official figures are available, sources said tens of thousands of appeals had already been filed physically and online.

Mehtab had been issued a “logical discrepancy” notice because his father’s name on his documents didn’t match that on the benchmark 2002 rolls. At the scrutiny, he had furnished multiple documents that spelled his father’s name correctly.

But the preliminary “final” rolls of February 28 marked Mehtab “deleted”.

Sources said Justice Sivagnanam personally examined all Mehtab’s documents, including his voter I-card and Aadhaar, and asked how his name could have been excluded from the list despitesuch documentation.

The tribunal directed the poll panel to restore his name by 8pm on Sunday.

Advocates Firdous Samim and Gopal Biswas represented Mehtab at the tribunal while Dibya Murugesan represented the Election Commission.

“Mehtab Sheikh has become the first deleted voter to be reinstated to the electoral rolls. This is a historic verdict,” Samim said.

Mehtab said: “My name was on the 2002 voter list. There was a discrepancy in my father’s name, but there was no discrepancy in my name. Despite that, I received a notice from the ElectionCommission.

“At the (scrutiny) hearing, I submitted documents including Aadhaar, PAN, income-tax returns, passport and even my children’s birth certificates showing me as their father. Yet the February 28 list marked me ‘deleted’.”

Ten supplementary lists of “under-adjudication” voters whose cases have been settled had been released till Sunday evening.

“The adjudication of the 60.06 lakh cases could be completed by Monday evening. By midnight, the Election Commission is expected to publish the final supplementary list,” a poll panel source said.

Mehtab, freed from the embarrassment of being a candidate-in-waiting whose name has been deleted from the voter list, is relieved and yet deeply concerned.

“The officials who first examined my papers were wrong. A senior judge heading the tribunal has now rectified it. This raises questions about the earlier scrutiny process,” he said.

Murshidabad Congress president Manoj Chakraborty said: “If Mehtab Sheikh’s name was wrongly excluded, it indicates that many eligible voters may have beenexcluded too.”