New Delhi, March 20 The Election Commission (EC) has established tribunals consisting of retired high court judges to hear appeals against the orders of judicial officers handling cases involving doubtful voters in West Bengal, which is heading towards elections.
On March 10, the Supreme Court ordered the establishment of tribunals comprising a retired chief justice and former judges of the Calcutta High Court to decide appeals against the orders of the judicial officers dealing with cases of nearly 61 lakh doubtful voters who were excluded from West Bengal's final voter list, which was published as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise on February 28.
The names of those cleared by the judicial officers will be included in the supplementary voter lists to be released.
Former Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and 18 other former high court judges have been named as the appellate authorities in a notification issued by the EC in the West Bengal gazette on Friday.
"In accordance with the order dated March 10, 2026, passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, and as recommended by the Hon'ble Chief Justice of the High Court at Calcutta, the Election Commission of India (ECI) hereby establishes the following Appellate Tribunal(s) for hearing appeals against orders passed by the designated Judicial Officers in respect of the inclusion or exclusion of prospective electors in the electoral roll of the State of West Bengal...," the notification read.
Following the apex court's directions, some 530 judicial officers stationed in subordinate courts in West Bengal, as well as neighbouring Jharkhand and Odisha, have been deputed for hearings related to the SIR process.
The 294-member West Bengal Assembly is scheduled to go to polls in two phases – on April 23 and April 29 – and the vote counting will take place on May 4.