West Bengal SIR hearing: Supreme Court asks Calcutta HC to deploy more judicial officers

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (February 24, 2026) moved in quickly to swell the ranks of judicial officers deployed to aid the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the completion of the West Bengal Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, even alerting neighbouring Odisha and Jharkhand to spare their judges.

A Special Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant convened urgently after receiving a letter from the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court detailing the perils of the “enormous exercise”.

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The Calcutta High Court Chief Justice had come upon a whopping 50 lakh claims and objections raised by voters excluded on grounds of logical discrepancies and mapping pending before the Electoral Registration Officers/Assistant Election Registration Officers (EROs/AEROs).

The letter said the 294 District and Additional District Judges selected to deal with the verification process was merely a drop in the ocean. Even if each one of them heard 250 cases a day, the entire process would take 80 days to be completed. Time was already stretched and deadlines for the Assembly elections were drawing close.

On February 20, the Supreme Court had taken the “extraordinary” decision to involve the judiciary in the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in West Bengal.

The decision was prompted by the persistent “trust deficit” between the Mamata Banerjee government and the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The apex court had requested the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court to deploy a force of serving and retired judicial officers of “impeccable integrity” in West Bengal to take over the quasi-judicial task of Electoral Registration Officers/Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (EROs/AEROs).

They would hear lakhs of voters who found themselves purged from the West Bengal draft roll, and had received hearing notices after the EC found them “unmapped” or detected “logical discrepancies” in their personal details. These discrepancies included variations in the spelling of names, age-gaps between inter-generational family members, and the number of children.

Taking action, the Special Bench of the top court, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, entitled the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court to additionally deploy Civil Judges, both senior and junior divisions, with experience of not less than three years, for the West Bengal SIR process.

If further human resources was required, the apex court authorised the Calcutta Chief Justice to request his counterparts in neighbouring Odisha and Jharkhand to spare serving or retired judicial officers for the verification work in West Bengal.

The Supreme Court asked the Chief Justices of Jharkhand and Orissa High Courts to consider the Calcutta Chief Justice’s request, if made, sympathetically.

The Court instructed that the verification of objections and claims regarding logical discrepancies/unmapping would be based on documents listed in the EC’s October 27, 2025 SIR notification. The court underscored that Aadhaar, Classes 10 admit card and pass certificate would be considered as proof during SIR verification.

It directed EROs and AEROs to cooperate with the judicial officers.

Most significantly, the Court allowed EC to publish a voter list in West Bengal on February 28, 2026. However, supplementary lists would be published on a continuous basis till nomination for Assembly elections.

The Supreme Court invoked its plenary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to declare that voters included in the supplementary lists would be deemed to be part of the final electoral roll published on February 28.

“The purity of elections has to be maintained. Concerns from both sides – EC and the State government – have to be addressed,” Justice Bagchi observed.