West Bengal: Top Officials Fail To Break SIR Bottleneck, As 6 Million Voters Under 'Adjudication' See No Deadline

Kolkata: A crucial meeting was held on Thursday at the Calcutta High Court, convened by Chief Justice Sujoy Pal regarding West Bengal’s pending voter’s list after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), in which over 60 lakh or 6 million voters have been placed under ‘adjudication’.

When the voter’s list was published for the state Assembly polls on February 28, after a four-month long SIR exercise, over 60 lakh names were kept under "adjudication", meaning their eligibility was still being examined. These voters were flagged for discrepancies, such as being “unmapped”, or failing to appear for hearings.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has clarified that cases under adjudication are being reviewed by judicial officers, and the names of those found eligible will be restored to the rolls through supplementary lists. But no final word came out of the Thursday crucial meeting, and the bottleneck over voters under ‘adjudication’ continued to persist.

Even a number of Trinamool Congress (TMC) and BJP candidates who have filed their nominations to contest in the polls, are under ‘adjudication’ and their fate hangs in balance.

It may be recalled that the legal disputes surrounding the SIR had reached the country's Apex Court. In fact, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had petitioned the Supreme Court, alleging 'arbitrary conduct' of the ECI in this matter, which has thrown a large number of voters under adjudication.

Amid allegations and counter-allegations, the Supreme Court entrusted the task of resolving the discrepancies to the judiciary itself. Judicial officers are currently scrutinising all details pertaining to those 6 million pending voters.

In the meeting on Thursday, the West Bengal Home Secretary, the Director General (DG) of Police, and the Kolkata Police Commissioner were present. The meeting focused on the law and order situation and the preparations surrounding the publication of the supplementary SIR list. It followed by another meeting in the afternoon, attended by the Chief Electoral Officer and other top-ranking officials.

However, it is learnt that the final list of voters for the upcoming state Assembly polls scheduled on April 23 and April 29 is yet to be created.

Upon returning from the High Court, officials from the CEO's office convened yet another meeting in the presence of Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala and DG Siddhinath Gupta. Multiple rounds of discussions were held, yet no specific timeline regarding the publication of the final voter’s list could be ascertained.

According to ECI sources, details of just over 24 lakh pending voters have been verified and resolved so far. That leaves the names of a vast number of voters in limbo.

The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the West Bengal Assembly Election 2026 has already come into force, and political parties have hit the campaign trail at various places. ECI sources had earlier indicated that the list might be published as early as this week. Accordingly, it was expected to be released on Thursday or Friday. But in reality, no final announcement has been made till now.

The state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Manoj Kumar Agarwal, and Special Roll Observer, Subrata Gupta, had previously indicated that the list would be published expeditiously. However, despite holding multiple meetings throughout the day on Thursday, no clear timeline or a specific deadline emerged. On the contrary, the matter still remains uncertain.

The prevailing curiosity across all quarters boils down to a single question: Will the supplementary list(s) be released only after Eid? There is widespread public speculation. The entire state waits in anxiety.

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3. 'Names Of Three Family Members Cleared, Four Deleted. How Is This Possible? There's A BJP Conspiracy'
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