New Delhi: The West Bengal chief electoral officer (CEO) has requested the Election Commission of India (ECI) to clarify whether voters whose cases are stuck in the state’s appellate tribunals can be considered for fresh re-enrolment in the drive of electors ‘left out’ during the special intensive revision (SIR) process, The Hindu reported.The query arises at a time when the election commission faces sustained accusations of mass disenfranchisement. Earlier this month, the ECI directed the CEOs of the 20 states and Union territories where it has already conducted the controversial SIR to compare the pre-SIR voter lists with the current ones and enrol within a period of one month those who have been ‘left out’ but are eligible, through Form 6. This notification, for a ‘special drive’, was issued on October 2.Meanwhile, The Hindu reported that at a meeting with the CEOs on October 6, the poll body asked them to proceed with the special drive on a war footing by holding camps to begin with and followed by door-to-door visits by the booth level officers (BLOs).While other state CEOs raised queries on the time limit and other protocols, per the daily, the West Bengal CEO asked the poll body whether the 38 lakh-plus voters whose cases were stuck in appellate tribunals would be part of the drive.Also read: ECI Ignored Early Proposals to Make SIR Easier on Voters, Election Staff in Maharashtra: ReportAccording to the report, there was no clear answer and a senior ECI official allegedly said the matter would be discussed later.The Wire earlier reported that the office of the West Bengal CEO has on October 6 explicitly told at least one category of deleted voters that they can apply to get back on the list through Form 6. “Any person in this list may submit Form 6 online or through BLO [booth-level officer] for inclusion of his/her name in the electoral roll,” the communique said.Civic groups and opposition parties have repeatedly alleged that legitimate voters were wrongly removed under the ASDD categories during the SIR, and in Bengal, the process leading up to the draft roll alone removed more than 58.2 lakh names, and the total number of deletions by the end of the revision was close to 91 lakh. The appellate tribunals have so far cleared 1.26 lakh out of total 38.31 lakh appeals. Meanwhile, at least three retired judges of the appellate tribunals set up by the ECI in March have since quit citing various functional issues. This leaves 16 out of the 19 appellate tribunals functional.For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.