The Supreme Court on Tuesday sharply cautioned parties in the West Bengal Special Intensive Revision (SIR) electoral roll case, warning against attempts that could undermine the work of judicial officers tasked with verifying voter claims.
During the hearing, the Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice R Mahadevan and Justice Joymalya Bagchi noted that lakhs of voter claims are currently under adjudication by judicial officers, and questioned why fresh applications were being filed before the Court while the exercise was still underway. The Chief Justice observed:
“Let’s not file advance petitions. This sends a wrong signal that you people now don’t have faith in the system.”
The Court emphasised that judicial officers deputed for the exercise must not be questioned, warning that it would not tolerate any attempts to undermine them.
“As Chief Justice of India, it is my duty to protect the judiciary… Anybody daring to question the judicial officers, we will not accept it.”
The Bench noted that the exercise underway was massive in scale, involving over 50 lakh voter objections, with over 10 lakh already disposed of. According to the communication placed before the Court, more than 500 judicial officers from West Bengal along with 200 officers from Odisha and Jharkhand had been deployed to work on the verification exercise. The Court strongly defended the work of these officers:
“What more sacrifice we could expect from our officers? Their leave has been cancelled and they are working even on holidays and Sundays.”
The Court also criticised public commentary against the judiciary during the exercise:
“The public will not notice the amount of burning the candle at both ends when they criticise the judiciary.”
During the hearing, senior adv Menaka Guruswamy raised concerns regarding the publication of supplementary electoral lists and the appellate mechanism for rejected claims. Taking note of the submissions, the Court directed that supplementary voter lists be published on a continuous basis as objections are decided.
On the issue of appeals, the Bench clarified that orders passed by judicial officers cannot be appealed before executive authorities. Instead, the Court directed the creation of special appellate tribunals comprising former judges. The Court further directed that the honorarium and facilities for such appellate tribunals be determined by the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court.
“The Hon’ble Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court may request a former Chief Justice and two or three former judges to act as the appellate tribunal.”
The Court clarified that multiple tribunals or benches may be constituted if required, given the scale of the exercise. The Election Commission of India (ECI) was directed to issue the necessary notification in consultation with the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court.
During the hearing, the Court noted that over 10.16 lakh objections have already been disposed of by judicial officers deployed by the Calcutta High Court, and emphasized that the process must continue without disruption. Addressing the issue of supplementary voter lists, the Court clarified that parties may approach the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court for publication of updated rolls.
“Both sides shall be at liberty to approach the Hon’ble Chief Justice of the High Court for publication of the supplementary list of persons whose objections already stand disposed of. Once the Chief Justice makes the recommendation to this effect, the Election Commission of India shall do the needful immediately. The process cannot remain static when a substantial number of objections have already been adjudicated.”
The Court also recorded the logistical and administrative measures undertaken to support the large-scale verification exercise.
“Training sessions have been organized through video conferencing on several occasions, and officers from Odisha and Jharkhand have also been given training through video conferencing. The State government has been directed to provide security, conveyance and accommodation to every deployed officer throughout this exercise. All orders and updates have been disseminated in real time through the High Court’s official communication channels across districts.”
The Court also directed the Election Commission to resolve technical issues in the verification portal, including login access for judicial officers, and ensure full logistical support.
“We strongly recommend to the Election Commission to provide full logistic support…The Election Commission of India will ensure that no mandatory technical requirement which may disrupt the process is introduced unless approved by the Hon’ble Chief Justice of the High Court at Kolkata. The portal’s technical issues which caused disruption prior to 7 March 2026 must be effectively addressed so that no such disruption takes place again. New login IDs shall be created for judicial officers promptly and without wasting any time.”
In the course of the hearing, the Court also dismissed one of the applications filed in the matter.
The plea filed by Bilkis Tarafdar was dismissed with liberty to avail alternative remedies under the appellate mechanism being created pursuant to the Court’s order. The Court reiterated that the verification exercise should continue uninterrupted and indicated that it would review the progress once the election notification is issued.
The matter will be taken up again after further progress in the verification exercise.