West Bengal SIR | SC suggests deploying judicial officers from Jharkhand and Orissa
Challenge to the ECI’s Revision of Electoral Rolls in BiharJudges: Surya Kant CJI, Joymalya Bagchi J, V.M. Pancholi J
Today, the Supreme Court expanded the judicial mechanism overseeing verification of logical discrepancy (LD) claims under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal.
A Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V.M. Pancholi noted that the present strength of officers could take nearly 80 days to complete the exercise. The Court suggested deploying services of judicial officers from Orissa and Jharkhand. The Bench passed directions on receipt of a 22 February communication from the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court detailing the scale of the exercise. Notably, leaves of all judicial officers stand cancelled by an order dated 22 February.
Expansion of judicial pool completion of SIR
Recording that approximately 80 lakh LD cases require verification, the Court noted that 250 District Judges and Additional District Judges had been assigned to verify about 50 lakh claims. The CJI observed that even if each officer were to decide 250 objections per day the entire process would take about 80 days.
To address this, the Court observed that the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court could call upon civil judges, senior and junior division, with at least three years of service, to create a larger pool of officers to complete the pending verification.
Assistance from neighbouring High Courts
Taking note of the time constraint, the Court further directed that if additional manpower was required, the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court may request assistance from the Chief Justices of the High Courts of Orissa and Jharkhand to request serving and retired judicial officers of equivalent rank for completion of the exercise in West Bengal.
The ECI was directed to bear the travel, boarding and lodging expenses of such officers. The Chief Justices of Orissa and Jharkhand were requested to consider any such request urgently.
The Bench reiterated its 8 September 2025 Order permitting Aadhaar as proof of identity. It further clarified that Madhyamik admit cards would govern the present exercise.
It directed that all documents, whether electronically uploaded or physically submitted before 14 February must be considered during verification. To prevent misuse, the Court specified that the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) shall certify such documents.
At this point, Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay appealed to the Bench to pass certain directions to eliminate Aadhar from the list of accepted documents. He alleged that there was mass production of fraudulent Aadhar cards in Bengal. However, the Bench remained unconvinced. Justice Bagchi, pointing to the Solicitor General, suggested that perhaps he could make a representation to the Union to amend the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950. He added, “Aadhaar was brought in as a document to act as an identity proof…we have to acknowledge that. There is no question of citizenship being canvassed on Aadhaar.”
Publication of final roll and supplementary lists
Noting that the last date for publication of the final electoral roll is 28 February, the Court directed that if verification of LD remained incomplete by that date, the ECI may publish the final electoral roll and thereafter, supplementary lists shall be published on a continuous basis as soon as the pending verification work is completed.
Invoking its powers under Article 142, the Court observed that names of voters enlisted in such supplementary lists shall be deemed to be part of the final electoral roll published on 28 February.