Kolkata: Retired Calcutta High Court judge Justice Biswajit Basu has stepped down from West Bengal’s appellate panels dealing with electoral-roll objections under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), becoming the fourth member of the 19-judge bench setup to quit. He communicated his decision to Chief Justice R V Ghuge on Saturday, attributing it to personal reasons.
Justice Basu had been entrusted with appeals from voters in Murshidabad, one of the districts most affected by exclusions during the SIR exercise. His exit comes shortly after Justice Indrajit Chatterjee, who was also assigned Murshidabad matters, withdrew from the assignment.
The Supreme Court had directed the Calcutta High Court to establish tribunals to examine whether voters whose cases had already been adjudicated should remain on or be removed from electoral rolls. In response, the High Court named 19 retired judges, including Justice Basu, to preside over these panels.
Mounting Pressure On Process
Basu’s departure follows resignations by former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and retired judges Ranjit Kumar Bag and Indrajit Chatterjee. The Election Commission of India had created 19 appellate tribunals in West Bengal in March, acting on the apex court’s direction.
The SIR exercise led to nearly 91 lakh names being struck off the state’s draft electoral rolls for reasons including “logical discrepancies”. More than 64 lakh of those exclusions were placed in the ASDD category—absent, shifted, dead and duplicate—while over 27 lakh voters were removed after the adjudication stage.
The tribunals are now handling appeals from lakhs of people whose names were deleted. Officials within the poll body reportedly fear that Basu’s resignation could further slow case disposal in Murshidabad, where a substantial number of voters were left off the rolls.
Murshidabad Bears The Brunt
Murshidabad, a Muslim-majority district with 22 Assembly constituencies, recorded the highest number of deletions under the “logical discrepancy” classification. Justice Chatterjee and Justice Basu had divided the district’s appellate workload between them, with each handling appeals from 11 constituencies.
Justice Chatterjee had earlier explained that most hearings were being held virtually through the offices of the respective Block Development Officers (BDOs). He had initially expected the assignment to last only two or three months, but withdrew after the volume of pending matters proved far greater than anticipated.
According to Chatterjee, he could manage only around 10 appeals each day. Even working through the year without a break, that pace would require roughly 145 years to clear the remaining five lakh cases.
Basu’s resignation has therefore added to concerns over the tribunals’ capacity to deliver timely relief, particularly in Murshidabad, where the appellate process now faces a leadership gap.