With 80 Lakh Claims Pending, Supreme Court Allows Judges From Odisha, Jharkhand To Aid Bengal SIR

Last Updated:February 24, 2026, 12:46 IST

Supreme Court asked the Calcutta High Court chief justice to request his Jharkhand and Odisha counterparts and requisition judicial officers to aid SIR process.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Calcutta High Court to deploy civil judges and judicial officers from neighbouring Jharkhand and Odisha to assist in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, citing the massive volume of pending claims and objections.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi took note of a letter from the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court that said 250 district judges deployed in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise will take around 80 days to deal with the claims and objections, news agency PTI reported.

The letter also stated that nearly 80 lakh petitions involving logical discrepancies and unmapped voter records require verification.

Currently, 250 district judges and additional district judges have been assigned to handle around 50 lakh claims. Even if each officer disposes of 250 cases daily, the process would take nearly 80 days, the top court noted.

Taking note of the grim situation and the time constraints, the bench permitted the deployment of civil judges to conduct the process. It asked the Calcutta High Court chief justice to request his Jharkhand and Odisha counterparts and requisition judicial officers of similar ranks to deal with the situation.

The expenses for travel, boarding and lodging of these officers will be borne by the Election Commission of India.

Invoking its plenary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the apex court exercised extraordinary jurisdiction to ensure the timely completion of the exercise. The court also allowed the Election Commission to publish the final electoral roll on February 28. It clarified that if verification of the “logical discrepancy" and “unmapped" categories remains incomplete by then, the poll body may issue supplementary lists on a continuous basis as pending work is finalised.

On February 20, dismayed over the ongoing tussle between the West Bengal government and the EC, the top court issued an “extraordinary" direction to deploy serving and former district judges to assist the poll panel in the controversy-ridden SIR exercise in the state.

Ruing the “unfortunate blame game" and the “trust deficit" between the EC and the “democratically elected" Trinamool Congress government in Bengal, the bench passed a slew of fresh directions to ensure the completion of the SIR exercise.

The Election Commission had issued notices to three categories of voters — mapped, unmapped and those with logical discrepancies. The discrepancies included mismatches in parents’ names, spelling differences, and implausible age gaps of less than 15 years or more than 50 years between voters and their parents.

The Supreme Court clarified that Aadhaar will be accepted as proof of identity, along with Madhyamik (secondary examination) admit cards, in accordance with its earlier ruling.

The last date for publishing the final electoral roll remains February 28, with supplementary lists to follow if required.

(With inputs from agencies)

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