Bengal SIR: Supreme Court allows judges from Odisha and Jharkhand to clear 50 lakh ‘discrepancy’ cases
The decision comes in light of 50 lakh voter claims under the “logical discrepancy/unmapped category” that remain unresolved, with the apex court directing the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice to draw on Civil Judges and additional officers as needed, while the Election Commission bears associated expenses.
The bench also issued some directions to streamline the nature of work. The Supreme Court on Tuesday permitted the deployment of judicial officers from Odisha and Jharkhand for completing the adjudication of claims and objections of persons included in the “logical discrepancy/unmapped category” during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi also said that the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court can depute civil judges, if needed.
On February 20, the top court, while taking note of the “trust deficit” between the state government and the Election Commission of India (ECI), had directed deployment of serving and former district judges of West Bengal for vetting claims and objections.
The CJI said that on February 22 he had received a communication from the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court stating that while there are 50 lakh cases of logical discrepancy/unmapped categories to be decided, only 250 judicial officers were available for such duties. Even if one officer was to decide 250 matters a day, it would take at least 80 days to complete the process.
In view of this, the court directed that judicial officers from neighbouring states could be deployed too, if required.
“In addition to the judicial officers already assigned the tasks, the Chief Justice of the High Court would be entitled to draw officers from the rank of Civil Judges (Senior Division) and Civil Judges (Junior Division) who have experience of not less than three years,” the bench ordered.
It added, that “if the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court is of the opinion that further human resources are required, he is at liberty to approach the Chief Justices of the High Courts of Jharkhand and Orissa to provide serving or retired judicial officers from those states of similar rank.”
The SC asked the ECI to bear the expenses of their travel, honorarium etc and urged the Chief Justice of Jharkhand and Orissa “to sympathetically and urgently consider any request that may be made by the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice in this regard.”
The bench also issued some directions for streamlining the nature of the work.
The court directed that “the verification shall be with reference to documents referred to in (a) notification dated October 27, 2025, issued by the ECI… declaring the commencement of SIR in the state of West Bengal, read with notification dated June 24, 2025 of the Standard Operating Procedure (b) the order passed by this Court on September 8, 2025… whereby Aadhaar card was allowed to be accepted as proof of identity and (c) the order of this Court on January 19, 2026… whereby Maadhyamik (Class X) admit card and Maadhyamik pass certificate was also allowed to be submitted.”
It said that “all such documents, whether submitted electronically or physically with necessary proof, on or before the cut-off date of February 14, 2026, may be considered.”
Noting that the last date of publication of the final electoral roll is February 28, 2026, the court also said, “If the verification exercise undertaken in respect of ‘logical discrepancies/unmapped category’ remains incomplete” as on that date, “the ECI may publish the final list, followed by supplements to the final list. Such supplements shall be published on (a) continuous basis as soon as the pending exercise is completed…”
Invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142, the court also declared that “the voters enlisted in such subsequent supplementary list shall be deemed to have been part of the final list published on February 28, 2026.”
During the hearing, advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, who had filed a petition seeking nationwide SIR, raised the issue of forged Aadhaar cards and urged the bench to spell out some guidelines to ensure there is no misuse.
“It is practically seen throughout the country (that) most Aadhaar (cards) are made in border districts. If the court can add one line – to control fake documents. It is seen throughout the country (that) whenever Bangladeshis or Rohingyas are captured by the police, the Aadhaar is from Bengal,” Upadhyay said.
CJI Kant said, “It may require a deeper probe. But this is not the time… lest we are misunderstood by anyone; let the right atmosphere and environment come.”
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