The final figure came at midnight: 27,16,393. The Court order did not mention it. It simply directed the ECI to “publish a supplementary list tonight”. It did not spell out what the list was about. That was understood. One day, a historian might record this oddity. The Supreme Court of India put its stamp of approval on the deletion of 27 lakh voters in West Bengal without saying a word about it. The order of April 6 talks about the Appellate Tribunal, its composition, its process, its infrastructure and, thoughtfully, about the honoraria and incidental expenses of its members. But it did not name the act that was to be appealed against — disenfranchisement.

This was unlike other cases of large-scale exclusions in the SIR on the grounds of death, migration or absence. This case was about persons who had applied for inclusion under the SIR process and were listed on the draft SIR rolls, but whose names were deleted through a new and hasty process widely questioned for lack of procedural transparency. They had a right to appeal. But there was no way an appeal could be heard and decided in time for elections. As per law, voters’ lists were to be frozen from April 7. The apex court has to decide whether these 27 lakh names stand deleted for this election. Or, find a way to ensure that this does not happen, either by permitting them to vote this time or by postponing the election dates till the final disposal of these appeals.

The Court was presented with a heap of evidence — anecdotal, documentary, statistical — to prove that these deletions were deeply flawed. The adjudicators were not required to look at all the documents submitted by an elector. The names of a former judge, family........

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