The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice in the plea filed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the State..The Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and VM Pancholi told the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take care while sending notices to voters on the basis of name mismatches. It observed,"Please send notices carefully. You cannot put out notable authors etc.".Appearing for Banerjee, Senior Advocate Shyam Divan assailed the Court's order asking the ECI to display names on the voter's list that had logical discrepancies.CJI Kant replied,"I had the advantage of my two brothers from West Bengal (Justices Bagchi and Dipankar Datta). They told me how pass certificates are issued and that is why we included it."Divan then said,"Please see the brief note by the petitioner...see the number of days left to complete the hearing - only 4 days. Unmapped voters are 32 lakh. 1.36 crore in logical discrepancy list. Hearings pending 63 lakh...number of micro observers deputed is 8,300. They are not contemplated under the Constitution at all...Domicile certificates, Aadhaar, OBC certificate - none of these are being accepted. People are in 4-5 hours queues."He pointed out that the ECI has failed to upload the reasons for citing each of the names in the logical discrepancy list."Some short reasons must be given. People should know why they are not in the list," Divan added..At this point, Justice Bagchi said that the Court was informed that the reasons were disclosed on the ECI website.CJI Kant added,"Yes, to the extent the person should know is fine...only thing is the mode in which they are informed. We were told that list is not only communicated, but individual notices are being given."Divan then told the Court that the prayer was for the ECI to direct withdraw all notices which pertain to only name mismatch.CJI Kant said, "Suppose one person writes Dutta and some may spell it as Datta..." Justice Bagchi added,"Same with Bandhopadhyay."When the CJI said that asking the ECI to withdraw the notices would be impractical, Divan pointed out that almost 70 lakh flagged discrepancies are name mismatches.Addressing ECI counsel and Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, the CJI said,"Some discrepancy is due to how you speak in local dialect...such things happen pan india."Justice Bagchi added,"Mr Dwivedi, in bengal you will called Mr Dibedi. Bengali language does not have a "va"."When CJI Kant said that his name would be pronounced correctly in Bengal, the Chief Minister said,"No it will not, Sir.".The CJI suggested that the State provides a team that can inform the Commission of mistakes arising from local dialect differences.CM Banerjee responded,"I belong to that State. I am very grateful because of your kindness. When justice is crying behind the door...then we thought we are not getting justice anywhere. We wrote 6 letters to the Election Commission. I am a bonded labourer...I prefer that, I am not fighting for my party.".The CJI then said,"...today in your plea some additional issues are flagged, every problem has a solution we must ensure that solution comes and no innocent person is left out. One objective is to weed out dead, then to weed out them who are disqualified...and then migrants - genuine persons - must remain on the rolls...but by virtue of this kind of mistake, such bonafide persons cannot be left out...entire procedure has a timeline. We had extended it for 10 days and now only 4 days are left. We cannot grant you the luxury of one week...if Roy, Dutta Ganguly etc are being left out...we don't know how Tagore is pronounced... but that does not mean Tagore is not Tagore."The CM argued,"I am giving you the example. I can show you the photos. It is not my photograph...it is by leading newspapers. The SIR process is only for deletion...suppose a daughter after marriage goes to in-laws' house...questions are why she is using husband's title etc...sometimes, poor people purchase flat, sometimes they shift...but all are deleted. They (ECI) violated your order and said it is an incorrect mapping.They say with Aadhaar, we want another certificate. In other states, domicile, caste certificate etc nothing is allowed. They only targeted West Bengal on the eve of election. They wanted to do something in 2 months which takes 2 years. When people are out, they did it. BLOs committed suicide and they blamed the election officials. It is because of the harassment. West Bengal is targeted, why not Assam?"CJI Kant responded,"Regarding Aadhaar...SIR validity issue we have reserved judgment and thus we cannot comment on the issue. Aadhaar card also has own limitations. Now on the discrepancy part, give a team of officers and let the Election Commission take them to verify and see how names are mismatched. Let us give them one day."Banerjee protested, saying,"ERO has no role now...Micro observers have been appointed from the BJP ruled states to delete the names. 58 lakhs deleted in first phase...so many called dead...This Election Commission, sorry WhatsApp Commission, is doing all of this."Dwivedi shot back, claiming,"We wrote so many times to the State to give Class 2 officers to be appointed as ERO. Only 80 officers were given...Fault lies with them that is why we appointed micro observers."The CM then said,"We have 23 districts. SDM is dependent on district-wise. We have given all class 2 officers. They are telling what I don't believe. In the second phase, 1.30 crore voters have been left out. They have targeted West Bengal by micro observers and to bulldoze West Bengal people. The logical discrepancy list cannot be deleted, this is my submission.".Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Court that there is an atmosphere of hostility towards ECI officials.The Court eventually issued notice in both petitions and will hear the matter next on Monday, February 9.As the hearing drew to a close, CM Banerjee urged the Court,"Please protect the people's rights. We are grateful.".Last year, the ECI had held an SIR in Bihar ahead of the assembly polls there. Multiple petitions, including those filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Federation for Indian Women (NFIW), challenged the legality of the process. Despite that, the ECI proceeded with the SIR in Bihar since the top court did not impose any stay on the same.Subsequently, the ECI on October 27, 2025 extended the SIR to other States and Union Territories, including West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. This led to multiple petitions challenging the same. The Court reserved its decision on them on January 29.Banerjee subsequently moved the Court challenging the ECI's decision to hold a SIR in the State and sought a direction that the polls be conducted on the basis of the existing rolls prepared last year. She has also sought an urgent direction to halt deletion of voters - particularly those under the “Logical Discrepancy” category, from the electoral rolls..In her plea, Banerjee expressed an apprehension of immediate and irreversible threat of mass disenfranchisement of eligible voters in the upcoming state assembly elections. This will disrupt the level playing field for political parties in the polls, the Chief Minister has said.“The Petitioner reasonably apprehends that elections to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal will be immediately declared thereafter as the term of Assembly comes to an end on or about 07.05.2026. This is the ultimate act of injustice as it will practically freeze the voters list for West Bengal with the large-scale disenfranchisement, errors and omissions caused due to the opaque, hasty, unconstitutional and illegal actions of the ECI described hereinbelow without any time for grievance redressal in view of shortage of time,” her plea states.While she has laid down a challenge to the entire SIR, she has also prayed that the electoral authorities be directed that the cases involving name mismatches or spelling variations in the 'logical discrepancy' category not be called for hearing during the process.All such name corrections must be carried out suo motu on the basis of available records, she has said. She has also prayed that all documents issued by competent authorities as identification proof be accepted.She also has alleged that despite the Supreme Court’s clear directions against it in petitions challenging the SIR, instructions are being issued to electoral officers through WhatsApp messages. Further, she has alleged that the list of people put in the ‘logical discrepancy’ category has not been uploaded online.“The entire SIR exercise is an effort at disenfranchising the existing voters on the Electoral Roll by forcing them to prove their citizenship with “documentary” evidence against an arbitrary cut-off date of 2002. This violates the Constitution, the Representation of the People Acts of 1950 and 1951,” the Trinamool Congress leader has argued..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.
