Supreme Court seeks EC reply on TMC MPs’ plea over West Bengal electoral rolls
Supreme Court seeks Election Commission response on interim pleas by TMC MPs alleging arbitrariness and procedural irregularities in West Bengal’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Issues include WhatsApp instructions to officers, voter deletions, logical discrepancies, and hardship to senior citizens
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from the Election Commission on fresh interim pleas of Trinamool Congress MPs alleging arbitrariness and procedural irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took note of applications filed by lawmakers Derek O Brien and Dola Sen in their pending petitions challenging procedural actions in the ongoing SIR in the state.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Derek O Brien, said the EC’s instructions on the SIR are being issued through social media platforms like WhatsApp and made booth-level officers (BLOs) act without formal orders.
Sibal also said 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 voter details.
The counsel representing the poll panel sought two weeks to file replies to the pleas.
The CJI-led bench granted one week to the poll panel to file a common reply to the pleas of the two TMC lawmakers and listed the plea for hearing on January 19.
Derek O Brien, in his plea, alleged arbitrariness and procedural irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls in the state. The application said that since the inception of the SIR process, the EC has issued instructions to officers at the ground level through “informal and extra-statutory channels”, such as WhatsApp messages and oral directions during video conferences, instead of issuing formal written instructions.
“The ECI cannot act arbitrarily, capriciously or dehors law, nor can it replace legally prescribed procedures with ad hoc or informal mechanisms,” it said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently announced she would move court against the SIR, alleging the exercise has triggered fear, harassment and administrative arbitrariness, leading to deaths, hospitalisations and suicide attempts.
O Brien said the draft electoral poll for West Bengal was published on December 16, 2025, “which has substantially aggravated the difficulties faced by eligible and bona fide electors, owing to a continuing series of arbitrary and procedurally irregular actions attributable principally to respondent no.1 (EC)”.
It said that on November 30 last year, the poll panel granted only a limited extension of time in relation to the revision schedule and fixed January 15, 2026, as the last date for submission of claims and objections.
The application sought a direction to the EC to extend the deadline for submitting claims and objections.
It also sought a direction to the poll panel to “forthwith stop issuing instructions for compliance by the BLOs and other officers in the SIR exercise through WhatsApp or other informal channels” and urged the court to “declare all such instructions issued so far as illegal”.
It said such casual communication channels for a critical exercise have been unheard of in the country since independence and would, in fact, “absolve decision-makers of accountability”.
“The ECI, as a constitutional authority, cannot abdicate its obligation to issue written instructions governing a process that directly impacts the fundamental democratic rights of citizens,” the application said.
It alleged the draft electoral roll published on December 16, 2025, saw 58,20,898 names deleted without notice or personal hearing.
“After the publication of the draft roll, it was reported that an estimated 31,68,424 voters could not be ‘mapped’ with the 2002 electoral roll, and would therefore receive hearing notices,” it said.
The application said the poll panel created a new category called ‘logical discrepancies’ without written order or guideline, to “issue notices to 1.36 crore electors without any statutory basis”.
It said many voters reported long waiting queues, confusion over document requirements and lack of clear justification in the EC notices.
The application claimed the poll panel has restricted booth-level agents of political parties from assisting voters at hearings.
“A particularly distressing aspect of SIR hearings is the hardship imposed on senior citizens, Persons with Disabilities and medically ailing voters, many of whom are being compelled to appear physically despite serious health, mobility, or age-related constraints,” it said.
It said the final roll is due to be published on February 14, though the document verification phase has been “thrown into disarray because of the ECI’s procedural nightmare”.
“The right to be included in the electoral roll is a statutory right with constitutional protection, and the process must meet standards of fairness, reasonableness and due process,” the application said.
Another plea by MP Dola Sen contends the SIR orders are arbitrary, unconstitutional and may lead to invalid deletion of genuine voters.
