Ahead Of Polls, Supreme Court Gives One-Day Deadline To Update Bengal Voter List

New Delhi: Days ahead of the crucial West Bengal Assembly elections, the Supreme Court has set a one-day deadline to complete the adjudication process for the state's voters' list. The top court has also ordered the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) appellate tribunals to revisit all records.

"We have requested the tribunals to revisit the entire documentation including reasons given by the judicial officers to eliminate any doubt," the court ordered, adding, "We have requested them to give fair hearing to parties."

The Supreme Court also directed the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court to prescribe all the procedures for tribunals to decide on the appeals by setting up a panel of three former judges.

"We have requested the tribunals to revisit the entire documentation including reasons given by the judicial officers to eliminate any doubt," the court ordered. "We have requested them to give fair hearing to parties," he added.

"A letter has been received by the Chief Justice of Calcutta HC from one of the former chief justices who has agreed to preside over one of the tribunals," the letter further said.

The Election Commission informed that court that all the remaining claims and objections would be settled by the end of the day.

Status of Deletions

During the SIR exercise in West Bengal, the draft electoral roll released by the Election Commission on December 16, 2025, saw the exclusion of 58.2 lakh names. Subsequently, a further 5,46,053 entries were reportedly removed between the draft publication and the release of the final list. In total, 63,66,952 names have been reportedly struck off the rolls since the SIR exercise commenced in November 2025, as per data available up to February 28, 2026.

Cases Under Adjudication

As per reports, a separate pool of 60,06,675 voters was placed under the “under adjudication” category due to concerns regarding their eligibility. By April 3, 2026, authorities had resolved nearly 52 lakh of these cases, while roughly 8 lakh cases are still pending review.

Election Commission’s Position

Election Commission officials stated that about 55% of the 52 lakh adjudicated cases have been cleared, leading to their reinstatement in the electoral rolls. The remaining 45%,  approximately 23.4 lakh individuals, have been rejected. Those excluded retain the option to challenge the decision by filing an appeal, either online or offline, within 15 days of the order issued by judicial officers.

Appellate Mechanism Yet to Start

To address grievances, 19 appellate tribunals were set up and designated as the only recourse for those seeking corrections. However, as of April 6, none of these tribunals has started functioning.

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