A fresh administrative hurdle has emerged concerning the voter list revision process in West Bengal. Former Calcutta High Court judge Biswajit Basu has formally stepped down from the special intensive revision or SIR tribunal. He communicated his decision by submitting a resignation letter to Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge, citing personal reasons for his departure.
Fourth member to exit the panel
With Basu stepping down, the number of judges who have walked away from this special committee has risen to four. This follows closely on the heels of former judge Indrajit Chatterjee, who also resigned from the tribunal citing the cumbersome daily commute. Chatterjee had pointed out that traveling 22 kilometers each day was becoming exceptionally difficult for him to manage. He initially took on the assignment under the assumption that the tribunal's work would wrap up within two to three months, but the massive backlog of pending cases indicated that the process would stretch out much longer, prompting his exit.
A growing list of departures
Other notable figures have also relinquished their roles on the panel. Former Justice Ranjit Kumar Bag previously stepped down by citing personal reasons, although he did not explicitly detail the specific factors behind his decision. Prior to that, former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam also left the tribunal, attributing his departure to family issues.
Purpose and structure of the tribunal
The tribunal was originally established in strict accordance with directives from the Supreme Court. It comprises a total of 19 retired judges and magistrates. The core mandate of this body was to provide a functional legal mechanism for individuals whose names were expunged from the final electoral rolls following the completion of the SIR process, giving them a structured platform to appeal and reinstate their names. Following Basu's resignation, four out of the original 19 members have now exited the panel.
Voter roll figures and pending cases
The final electoral roll for West Bengal was officially published on February 28, keeping aside roughly 60 lakh cases that required judicial adjudication. At the time, the Election Commission had stated that supplemental lists would be rolled out progressively as the judicial proceedings advanced.
To put the scale into perspective, the state recorded 7,66,37,529 registered voters before the SIR notification was formally issued in November of last year. When the draft electoral roll was released in December, a total of 58,20,899 names were dropped. By the time the final list came out on February 28 of this year, the total number of removed entries had climbed to 63,66,952.
The workload of the tribunal is directly tied to resolving the disputes surrounding these omitted names. The upcoming supplemental lists are anticipated to incorporate the findings of these judicial reviews, enabling eligible applicants whose claims are successfully validated to have their names restored to the official voter registry.
