West Bengal SIR: Supreme Court declines Bengal’s plea to delay voter roll freeze

Supreme Court to decide 60 lakh voter claims in West Bengal as central forces remain deployed amid ongoing electoral roll revisions.

The Supreme Court on Monday disagreed with the West Bengal government which pleaded with the top court to wait for a few more days before freezing the electoral roll so that many of the over 20 lakh voters, who failed to convince judicial officers that there were no ‘logical discrepancies’ in their details provided under the special intensive revision (SIR) of the roll, get a chance to vote in the Assembly elections on April 23 and April 29.

On the gheraoing of judicial officers in the State’s Malda district on April 1, the top court invoked powers under Article 142 of the Constitution and Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, heading a Bench, said the incident was not an emotional outburst, but a “well-planned, calculated and deeply instigated” move. The court directed the National Investigation Agency to take over the investigation in the case.

Also Read: West Bengal SIR hearing Highlights on April 6, 2026

In a connected hearing, the court pulled up the West Bengal Chief Secretary, who had gone incommunicado despite repeated calls for aid by the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court on April 1. The Chief Secretary, along with the Director General of Police, appeared online and apologised to the court. “Lower yourself a bit so that ordinary minions like the Chief Justice of the High Court can access you,” Justice Joymalya Bagchi told the two officials.

Chief Justice Kant said the bureaucracy drew their obstinacy from being “pampered”.

The hearing began with senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for West Bengal, saying there were long, meandering queues of voters in the State who could not pass the verification by judicial officers and remained excluded from the electoral rolls.