SC allows deployment of civil judges from Odisha, Jharkhand for SIR exercise in West Bengal
The Calcutta HC Chief Justice told the Supreme Court on February 22 that 250 judicial officers had been assigned the task of deciding about 80 lakh claims and objections under logical discrepancy and unmapped categories — which was a huge exercise
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the deployment of civil judges with experience of at least three years from neighbouring Orissa and Jharkhand for the timely completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.
Citing "trust deficit" between the West Bengal Government and the Election Commission, a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi had on February 20 issued an order for deployment of judicial officers, including retired judges, from West Bengal for conduct of SIR of electoral rolls in the state.
On Tuesday, the Bench expanded the scope of its order to include civil judges from Orissa and Jharkhand with experience of at least three years for timely completion of the SIR exercise.
The order came after the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice wrote to the Supreme Court on February 22 that 250 judicial officers have been assigned the task of deciding about 80 lakh claims and objections under logical discrepancy and unmapped categories.
Logical discrepancies in progeny linking with the 2002 voter list included instances of a mismatch in the parent’s name and the age difference between a voter and his/her parent being less than 15 years or more than 50 years.
Highlighting the enormity of the exercise, the Bench noted that even if each judge decided 250 cases a day, it would take 80 days to complete the SIR exercise.
In view of this situation, the Bench ordered that "If the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice feels that further human resource is needed, he may approach chief Justices of Orissa and Jharkhand High Courts to draw serving and retired judicial officers of those states in similar rank who shall be entrusted to complete the verification work in West Bengal.”
It said, “Travel, boarding and lodging of such officers shall be borne by the Election Commission.”
The Bench — which had on February 20 allowed the poll panel to publish the final electoral rolls on February 28 — clarified that the EC can issue supplementary lists as the verification process proceeded.
The top court exercised its plenary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to enlist voters in the supplementary electoral rolls to be part of the final list published February 28.
The Bench also issued a clarification on the documents that can be accepted for processing of claims and objections.
"The order of this court on September 8, 2025, where Aadhaar was allowed as proof of identity and order of this court passed on the writ petition relating to Madhyamik Admit Card and Certificate shall be admitted. We state that all such documents whether electronically uploaded or physically handed over before February 14, 2026, shall be considered," the Bench ordered.
On February 20, the Bench had lamented that constant bickering between the West Bengal Government and the Election Commission was delaying the SIR process in the state.
“There is an unfortunate blame game of allegations and counter allegations which shows trust deficit between two constitutional functionaries, i.e. the state government and the Election Commission of India. Now the process is stuck at the stage of claims and objections of the persons who have been included in the logical discrepancy list,” it had said.
