New Delhi, February 24 The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the deployment of West Bengal civil judges, in addition to 250 district judges, and the requisitioning of judicial officers from Jharkhand and Odisha to handle the 80 lakh claims and objections related to deletion from the electoral roll in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi took note of a February 22 letter from Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul, stating that even if 250 district judges deployed in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise take approximately 80 days to process claims and objections related to logical discrepancies and unmapped categories, it would still be a lengthy process.
The logical discrepancies in linking with the 2002 voter list include instances of a mismatch in the parent's name or a difference in age between a voter and their parent, being less than 15 years or more than 50 years.
While issuing a series of directions, CJI Kant noted that even if each judicial officer handles 250 claims and objections per day, the exercise would still take around 80 days to complete. The deadline for the West Bengal SIR is February 28.
The bench permitted Chief Justice Paul to deploy civil judges from the senior and junior divisions with a minimum three-year experience to verify the claims and objections filed by voters.
It directed the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice to request his counterparts in Jharkhand and Odisha to requisition judicial officers of similar ranks to handle the situation.
"If the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court believes 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 bench ordered.
The bench stated that both Jharkhand and Odisha were previously part of Bengal, and the people are familiar with the Bengali language.
The Supreme Court stated that the travel, honorarium, and other expenses of the judicial officers would be borne by the Election Commission (EC) and asked the Chief Justices of the Jharkhand and Orissa High Courts to sympathetically and urgently consider the request made by the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice.
The bench said, "The judicial officers involved in the exercise will verify claims and objections with respect to the documents referred to in (a) notification dated October 24, 2025, declaring the commencement of SIR in WB, read with the June 24, 2025, notification, the order passed by this Court on September 8, 2025, whereby Aadhaar cards were allowed, and the order passed by this court on January 19, 2026, whereby Maadhyamik (Class X) admit cards and Maadhyamik pass certificates were also allowed to be submitted."
"We direct that all such documents, whether submitted electronically or physically, on or before the cut-off date of February 14, 2026, will be considered," the bench said, adding that the responsibility of ensuring that the judicial officers have access to the relevant documents would lie with the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs).
The Supreme Court also allowed the EC to publish the final electoral roll on February 28, and clarified that the poll panel can issue supplementary lists as the verification process proceeds.
It exercised plenary powers under Article 142 to enlist voters in the supplementary electoral rolls to be part of the February 28 final list published by the poll panel.
During the hearing, advocate Ashwini Upadhyay told the bench that the use of fake Aadhaar cards was rampant, and most cases of fake Aadhaar cards across the country originated from Bengal.
Upadhyay submitted, "This is practically seen throughout the country, and most Aadhaar cards are made in border districts. If the court can add one line to control the usage of fake documents – whenever there are Bangladeshis or Rohingyas detained by the police, the Aadhaar is from Bengal. This is the practical situation."
CJI Kant said, "The matter may require a deeper probe. But this is not the timing. Lest we are misunderstood by anyone, let the right atmosphere and environment come."
Justice Bagchi told the counsel, "You make a representation to the Union of India to amend the Representation of the People Act... This cannot be a discussion before our forum always."
"If Aadhaar has been fraudulently procured on an industrial scale, then it requires to be statutorily regulated. Because the Representation of the People Act was amended, and Aadhaar was brought in as a document which will prove identity. We have to acknowledge that," Justice Bagchi said.
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 controversial 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.
On February 9, the top court made it clear to the states that it would not allow anyone to create any impediment in the completion of the SIR and directed the WB DGP to file an affidavit on the EC's allegation of burning of its notices by miscreants.