Supreme Court’s decision in SIR case in Bengal, judicial officers of Jharkhand-Odisha will be involved

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Important decision of Calcutta High Court

A bench of the Calcutta High Court, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice Vipul M Pancholi, has taken note of an important letter. It has been told in this letter that it will take about 80 days for the 250 district judges deployed in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process to dispose of the claims and objections.

Election Commission’s expenditure instructions

The decision has directed the Election Commission (EC) to bear the expenses for the deployment of judicial officers from Jharkhand and Odisha. The Supreme Court also allowed the EC to publish the final electoral list on February 28, and clarified that the Election Commission may also release a supplementary list as the verification process progresses. In this context, exercising full powers under Article 142, the Court has included the voters in the supplementary electoral list so that they can become part of the final list released by the Election Commission on February 28.

Discrepancies in voter list

Various discrepancies related to the 2002 voter list include variations in the names of parents and the age difference between the voter and his parents, which could be as little as 15 years or as much as 50 years. On February 20, frustrated by the ongoing tussle between the West Bengal government and the Election Commission, the Supreme Court has given an ‘extraordinary’ direction to depute sitting and former district judges to assist the Election Commission in the controversial SIR process in the state.

political allegations and counter-allegations

The bench expressed regret over the “unfortunate allegations” and “trust deficit” going on between the Election Commission and the “democratically elected” Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal. Along with this, several new instructions have also been issued to complete the SIR process.