Bengal SIR: Supreme Court allows Jharkhand, Odisha judicial officers for verification

The Supreme Court has permitted the deployment of additional judicial officers, including from Jharkhand and Odisha, to fast-track the ongoing Special Intensive Revision exercise in West Bengal.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Election Commission to publish West Bengal’s final electoral roll on February 28 despite the large-scale voter verification process remaining incomplete. It also permitted the deployment of additional judicial officers, including from Jharkhand and Odisha, to fast-track the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Taking note of the “enormity” of the revision process involving nearly 80 lakh claims and objections related to “logical discrepancies” and unmatched votes, the bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said the statutory deadline for publication of the final roll should not stall verification.

It invoked Article 142 powers to rule that voters added later through supplementary rolls would be deemed part of the February 28 final list.

Acting on a report from the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, the court noted that even with about 220 serving and retired additional district-level judicial officers engaged, disposal of the caseload could take over 80 days if each officer handled 200–250 cases daily.

To accelerate the process, the bench permitted the High Court to deploy civil judges with more than three years’ experience and, if required, requisition serving or retired judicial officers of similar rank from neighbouring Jharkhand and Odisha.

The Election Commission will bear travel, accommodation and related expenses for any officers brought in from other states.