Bengal: 200 judicial officers from Jharkhand, Odisha set to join SIR exercise

Nearly 200 judicial officers from Jharkhand and Odisha are expected to arrive in West Bengal soon to assist with the ongoing SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of electoral rolls, as authorities step up efforts to complete the large-scale verification process within the stipulated timeline.

Special rolls observer of the Election Commission Subrata Gupta said arrangements were being made following the Supreme Court’s direction to the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul to augment manpower for the exercise. “We will make all arrangements for the training of the judicial officers for the exercise,” Gupta told reporters after attending a stock-taking meeting convened by the chief justice.

The move comes after the apex court, on 24 February, permitted the deployment of additional judicial officers, including civil judges from West Bengal and officers requisitioned from neighbouring Jharkhand and Odisha, to handle nearly 80 lakh claims and objections arising out of the SIR process. The court had taken note of a communication from the Calcutta High Court chief justice stating that the existing strength of around 250 district judges could take approximately 80 days to complete the task.

Officials said judicial officers from West Bengal’s lower courts have already been deputed to adjudicate claims and objections of voters placed under the “logical discrepancies” category — cases where names are at risk of deletion from the electoral rolls.

Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal said the adjudication work was progressing steadily despite initial hurdles.

“The work is moving smoothly, barring a few glitches, which are only teething problems,” he said. Agarwal added that around 270 judicial officers were already engaged in the exercise and another 200 lower court judges from neighbouring states were expected to join soon.

“Necessary infrastructure facilities are being put in place for them,” he said, indicating that logistical preparations were underway to accommodate the incoming officers and streamline the verification process.

The SIR exercise has generated significant attention as authorities attempt to address discrepancies linked to the 2002 voter list.

These include mismatches in parent-child details, inconsistencies in names and cases where the age gap between a voter and their parent is recorded as less than 15 years or more than 50 years.

Election officials maintain that the deployment of additional judicial officers will help accelerate scrutiny and ensure that claims and objections are processed in a time-bound and transparent manner, as the revision exercise continues across the state.

With PTI inputs