Supreme Court Grants Week-Long Extension For West Bengal Electoral Roll Revision, CJI Assures No Impediments
The Supreme Court on Monday (February 9) granted an additional week to complete the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, extending the deadline beyond February 14. The interim order came while hearing a petition filed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenging the voter roll revision exercise in the state.
Directing the extension, the court clarified that it would not obstruct the revision process. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the Apex court intended to facilitate the smooth completion of SIR and would ensure that no hurdles stand in the way, as reported by Bar and Bench. The bench, led by CJI Surya Kant along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and NV Anjaria, instructed the West Bengal government to ensure that a list of 8,555 Group B officers submitted to the court report to their respective district electoral officers by 5 pm.
The direction followed the Election Commission of India’s submission that it was facing a shortage of manpower due to insufficient cooperation from the state government. The court also ruled that the Election Commission would have the authority to replace Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), while retaining existing officers if found suitable.
“The responsibility assigned to micro observers or the state govt officials shall be to only assist the EROs as the final decision will be of the ERO,” the court further stated. The apex court said that since this new set of government officials will be inducted, “the process of scrutinising documents submitted by affected persons is likely to take more time.”
Additionally, the bench allowed state government officials to be engaged as micro observers after brief training and verification of their credentials. However, it clarified that these officials would only assist in the process, with the final authority resting solely with the EROs. Acknowledging the induction of new personnel, the court noted that scrutiny of documents submitted by voters could take longer, necessitating additional time to complete the exercise.