In the run-up to polling in West Bengal, a constitutional paradox has quietly taken shape, one that exposes the limits of legal remedies when they collide with electoral time. The Supreme Court has overseen an extraordinary clean-up exercise following large-scale deletions from the electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision. Judicial officers, assisted across state lines, have processed tens of lakhs of objections. Nineteen appellate tribunals now stand operational, tasked with reviewing an avalanche of appeals. On paper, the system is working.

But elections are not conducted on paper. With over 30 lakh appeals pending and polling dates already fixed, the central question is no longer whether justice exists, but whether it can arrive in time to matter. The Court has clarified that only those whose appeals are decided before specific cut-off dates ~ April 21 for deleted voters in phase I and April 27 for those in phase II ~ will see their names restored in the supplementary rolls. For the rest, even a successful appeal will come too late. The vote, once lost, is not retroactively recoverable. This is not a failure of intent. It is a failure of........

© The Statesman