Supreme Court Extends Bengal SIR Deadline By One Week, Grants More Time For Scrutiny Of Names

The Supreme Court on Monday extended the deadline of the special intensive revision in West Bengal by one week. Earlier, the final rolls were to be published on February 14.

The apex court ruled the final list can not be published on February 14, as the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) had already written to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) seeking additional time to complete the hearing process.

The top court has also directed the extension of the time for hearings. The SC, in its order, issued a show-cause notice to the Director General and observed that in the present situation, publishing of the final rolls would not be possible within the original deadline.

On Monday, the SC continued the hearing against the West Bengal SIR, saying that it would not create impediments to the completion of the electoral roll revision, but assured the state government that hurdles in the process would be removed.

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Chief Justice Surya Kant said, "We will remove hurdles, but we will not create any impediments in the completion of SIR. It must be very clearly understood by the states."

During the hearing, senior advocate Shyam Divan raised the issue of large-scale deletion of the names of voters, arguing that it could not be carried out through micro observers.

To this, the CJI emphasised that micro observers are there to assist EROs and AEROs and do not hold decision-making authority. Such an authority lies with the ERO.

The Supreme Court on Monday heard the Election Commission's response to a petition filed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, seeking that the upcoming assembly elections be held based on the 2025 electoral rolls, arguing that there are several irregularities in the SIR process, which may lead to mass disenfranchisement.

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Representing herself, CM Mamata had levelled serious allegations against the poll body in the matter. The West Bengal Chief Minister has raised the issue of a logically flawed list of over 1.36 crore voters in the Supreme Court.

He claimed that the names of these voters were at risk of being deleted on the basis of systematic errors like 'wrong spelling of surname' or change of address of daughters after marriage.