The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hailed the Supreme Court’s decision to deploy serving and retired judicial officers to supervise the adjudication of claims and objections during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal. BJP’s Amit Malviya, the party’s central observer for West Bengal, emphasized that this move would ensure judicial scrutiny and prevent any potential manipulation of the revision process. The directive aims to replace administrative officials with judicial officers to address cases with incomplete or missing documents, enhancing transparency in the electoral roll revision process.
Malviya highlighted that a significant number of documents, totaling 4,66,323, are awaiting verification by district electoral officers, while approximately 30 lakh documents are pending re-verification by electoral registration officers and assistant electoral registration officers. He noted that decisions on submissions from nearly 20 lakh voters are pending. Allegedly, district magistrates and sub-divisional officers had delayed document scrutiny, potentially leading to approvals without proper verification.
The Supreme Court’s order mandates the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to assign serving judicial officers, along with retired officers of the rank of Additional District Judge or District Judge, to address pending claims categorized as ‘logical discrepancy.’ Each judicial officer will be supported by micro observers from the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure accountability and transparency. The order aims to guarantee that the final electoral rolls will be released by February 28, with supplementary lists issued subsequently to incorporate decisions made during the adjudication process.
