West Bengal SIR: Supreme Court extends publication of final voter list by a week

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday extended the deadline for the publication of the final electoral roll in West Bengal by one week under the Election Commission of India's (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. The final list, originally scheduled for release on February 14, will now be published after the extended timeline. The Court noted that Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) needed additional time to scrutinize documents and make appropriate decisions.

The Court also issued a show-cause notice to the Director General of Police (DGP), West Bengal, regarding allegations of violence during the SIR process. It directed the DGP to explain what steps had been taken to maintain law and order during the revision exercise. In addition, the Court asked the West Bengal government to submit, by 5 pm Tuesday, a list of 8,505 officers proposed for deputation to assist in the revision process.

The Court granted discretion to the ECI to replace EROs and AEROs and use these officers as needed. The Court clarified that these officers would only assist in the process and that the final decisions would remain with the EROs. The Court also addressed allegations in the ECI's counter-affidavit about inaction over complaints regarding the burning of objection forms (Form-7), issuing a show-cause notice to the DGP and stating it would decide on the ECI's powers after receiving the response.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, representing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, stated that out of 7.08 crore voters in the draft list, 6.75 crore were mapped, while 32 lakh remained unmapped. He also noted that 1.36 crore names were placed in the Logical Discrepancy list due to minor variations like "Dutta-Datta" and "Roy-Ray."

Divan informed the Court that the State had deputed over 8,500 Group-B officers, while Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi argued that the ECI had engaged micro-observers from outside Bengal who were unfamiliar with the local language and administrative setup. He criticized the sidelining of trained State officials. The Chief Justice clarified that micro-observers were only meant to assist EROs and AEROs and not to make independent decisions. (ANI)

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