SIR In West Bengal: SC Seeks EC's Response On TMC MPs Pleas Alleging Irregularities

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought a reply from the Election Commission on fresh interim pleas filed by Trinamool Congress MPs alleging arbitrariness and procedural irregularities in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.

The matter came up for hearing before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. The bench took note of applications filed by lawmakers Derek O Brien and Dola Sen in their pending petitions challenging the procedural actions taken in the ongoing SIR in the state.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Derek O Brien, contended before the bench that instructions by the poll body on SIR are being issued through social media platforms like WhatsApp, which made booth-level officers (BLOs) act without any formal orders. The senior advocate submitted that the poll panel has introduced a 'logical discrepancy' category of voters, who may be issued notice for a quasi-judicial hearing on their eligibility over errors or anomalies in the voter details.

The counsel representing the poll panel sought two weeks to file the replies on the pleas. The bench granted one week to the Election Commission to file a common reply on the pleas of the two TMC lawmakers, and scheduled the matter for hearing on January 19.

The plea, filed by TMC MP Deriek O'Brien, said, “The draft electoral roll was published in West Bengal on December 16, 2025, and 58,20,898 names were deleted, without any notice or personal hearing. There has been a precipitous decline from 7,66,37,529 voters after the special summary revision of 2025 to 7,08,16,616 voters on the draft Electoral Roll. This action of the ECI is contrary to its own detailed SOP for deletion of entries from the electoral roll issued in writing on 11.08.2023…”.

The plea contended that final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on 14.02.2026 (after closure of notice and hearing phase on 07.02.2026) and the applicant reasonably apprehends that elections to the legislative assembly of West Bengal will be immediately declared thereafter.

“This is the final act of injustice as it will practically freeze the voters list with whatever errors and omissions are caused due to the hasty and illegal actions of the Respondent No. 1 (ECI)…This will effectively render nugatory all appeals and corrective processes for restoration of wrongly and unjustly disenfranchised voters which as it is, will also take reasonable time”, it said.

The plea contended that the poll body is issuing critical instructions to field officers through WhatsApp or orally, and not through proper written notifications, circular or order. “Since the inception of the Special Intensive Revision (“SIR”) process in the State of West Bengal, the ECI has, on numerous occasions and indeed, on more than 50 instances, issued instructions to the officers at the ground level, including BLOs, AEROs, EROs and DEOs through informal and extra-statutory channels, such as WhatsApp messages in WhatsApp Groups and oral directions conveyed during video conferences, instead of issuing formal written instructions through duly notified orders, circulars or guidelines”, said the plea.

The plea urged the apex court to issue a direction to the ECI to extend the deadline for submitting claims and objections currently fixed as 15.01.2026, and also direct the poll body to forthwith stop issuing instructions for compliance by the BLOs and other officers in the SIR exercise through WhatsApp or other such informal channels and declare all such instructions issued so far as illegal.

The plea contended that the poll body has acted outside the law and followed arbitrary procedures during the SIR exercise. “The ECI cannot act arbitrarily, capriciously or dehors law, nor can it substitute legally prescribed and set procedures with ad hoc or informal mechanisms”, said the plea.

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