# 80% of Bengal election appeals challenge voter inclusion, SC told 2026-08-25T22:02:23+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets The Supreme Court was told on Tuesday that nearly 80% of the 38 lakh appeals pending before West Bengal's SIR appellate tribunals challenge the inclusion of persons in electoral rolls, while only 7 lakh appeals are from voters excluded after the revision exercise. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, citing an RTI reply obtained by MP Isha Khan Choudhary, said 31 lakh of 38.1 lakh appeals seek disenfranchisement. He argued that tribunals should prioritise the 7 lakh exclusion appeals, noting that over 90% of decided exclusion appeals have been allowed, restoring voters to the rolls. LiveLaw reports that the bench expressed surprise at the data, with Justice Joymalya Bagchi noting a "very large chunk of appeals are for inclusions." The Times of India adds that the court was told 20 lakh of 27 lakh voters deleted for 'logical discrepancy' have not appealed. The Election Commission was directed to file an affidavit providing a breakup of appeals, disposal figures, and steps taken to update rolls. It was also asked whether additional tribunals are needed. The court will hear the matter next week. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both sources report the same facts but frame them differently. LiveLaw foregrounds the RTI data and Sankaranarayanan's characterisation of the situation as 'appalling,' emphasising the tribunals' burden and the near-90% success rate of excluded voters' appeals. The Times of India leads instead with the 27 lakh deletions not appealed, framing the story around the new information to the court and the 'logical discrepancy' figure. LiveLaw also gives space to the Trinamool Congress member's allegation of targeted deletions in 31 constituencies, while the Times reports a similar claim of targeting a particular community. The unified picture is a court pushing the Election Commission for transparency ahead of the Kolkata and Howrah civic polls in December. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - livelaw.in (neutral report) Reports facts and court proceedings with no discernible slant. - timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report) Straight reporting of court data and arguments, no editorialising. This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-25T23:02:11+00:00. Tags: Election Commission of India, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Isha Khan Choudhary, Supreme Court, West Bengal Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/80-of-west-bengal-voter-appeals-challenge-inclusions-sc-told/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/80-of-west-bengal-voter-appeals-challenge-inclusions-sc-told/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/