New Delhi: At least 12 of 19 judges heading tribunals set up in West Bengal to review appeals during the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of voter lists complained in August about the ECINET portal, saying it failed to work as intended. The tribunals are supposed to hear appeals during the SIR, including those related to the voters whose names were deleted from the voter list during the process. The portal is crucial to this work.While 27 lakh voters failed to make it to the voter list in the state, 22 lakh approached the tribunals. The judges flag that their requests for problems in the portal to be fixed also went unheard.One of the concerns raised by a tribunal regarding the ECINET protal is that it has “no mechanism to hold virtual hearings in case the tribunal intends to hear the parties”, said a report in the Indian Express. The report is based on minutes of a tribunal meeting held on August 11 that the publication has reviewed.Further, once a voter’s name had been deleted or included, the tribunal could not restore them on the portal even if it wanted to. The tribunals were not even able to supply applicants with a copy of their order through this portal.Also read: ‘Four in 10 Appeals Against Voter Inclusion Came From Election Commission,’ Says Bengal SIR Tribunal JudgeAs far back as in May, one of the 19 tribunal judges had written to the Calcutta high court, highlighting that there was no mechanism to send notices to parties to an appeal before it, the report said. The judge said this was a shortcoming that was going unheeded and was slowing down the adjudication process.The 19 tribunals were set up in March, in the midst of the SIR process in the state, on the orders of the Supreme Court of India. The portal was set up by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the judges to add, review, delete or otherwise process voters whose cases they adjudicate, apart from performing other functions. Around a dozen of the 19 judges said it does not work, as per the Indian Express report.“Official records show they [the judges] complained that the portal did not allow them to serve notices to parties, slowing down the disposal of appeals. It did not allow the tribunals to upload additional documents from voters who filed appeals or hold virtual hearings or restore a deleted voter. It didn’t even let the appellants download tribunal orders,” the publication said.Separately, the Indian Express reported in September that two election commissioners flagged the ineffectiveness of the ECINET digital system of the ECI, which restricted access in ways that officials responsible for finalising the electoral rolls could not amend it.Late in September, the ECI announced it would set up an independent committee with experts on board to review the functioning of ECINET.Crucially, the Indian Express report on the tribunal judges flagging concerns about the portal says their concerns were “conveyed to the ECI and the Chief Justice of the high court of Calcutta”. In other words, the ECI was informed of the problems with ECINET prior to the September expose.Also read: In Bengal, the Judicial Review of Voters Under Adjudication Fell Six Times Harder on Muslim AreasThe report flags the following concerns raised by judges in August:“There is no mechanism…till date in spite of several requests and reminders to develop a common and proper mechanism on the portal to serve notice to the parties directly or through proper channel.”“…when the tribunal finds uploaded documents are not in terms of enumeration form or whenever the tribunal needs additional documents, there is no mechanism how the same are to be secured.” As a result, the tribunal in question resorted to sending emails, which did not prove effective.In April, Mostari Banu, a West Bengal voter who had approached the Supreme Court, was given to understand by the ECI during a hearing that appeals could be filed online via ECINET or in person through election officials. Those officials were supposed to digitise the physical records.Also read: Judge Whose Notice Unveiled EC’s Bulk Removal Appeals in Bengal Resigns from SIR TribunalThe SIR process in Bengal was unique for the presence of the tribunals as well as judicial officers, appointed after a Supreme Court ruling in February. The judicial officers perused 60 lakh voters deleted by the ECI’s software system that struck off voters whose entries had “logical discrepancies”.Ultimately, 27 lakh had to be left for the tribunals, which the court ordered to be set up a month later. These systems were put in place because the pendency was too high for regular courts to hear, though the Calcutta high court oversaw the entire process.The slow working of the tribunals is significant since the appeals it has heard have mostly ended in voters being restored to the electoral roll. Arguably, voters who did not get a hearing forfeited the right to vote in the assembly election as well as recent by-elections on two seats held in the state.For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.