A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court has instructed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to provide clarity on the status of Other Backward Class (OBC) certificates issued by the West Bengal government post-2010. These certificates were previously invalidated by the high court but are now being considered as supporting documents for the second phase of the state’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. Last week, the West Bengal BJP unit sought the court’s intervention to prevent the use of post-2010 OBC certificates during the verification of claims and objections on the draft voters’ list.
Justice Krishna Rao, presiding over the case, emphasized that the Election Commission must determine whether these OBC certificates will be accepted as valid supporting documents. The Commission has been given a week to provide its decision on this matter. Notably, a previous ruling by the Calcutta High Court had annulled all OBC certificates issued by the West Bengal government after 2010, barring their future use for any purpose.
The petitioner’s counsel highlighted the court’s earlier decision and argued against the acceptance of these cancelled OBC certificates as proof of identity during the SIR process. The Election Commission had recently published the draft voters’ list in West Bengal, initiating the upcoming phase of verifying identity documents, including OBC certificates among the specified proofs. The West Bengal BJP unit has raised concerns and approached the High Court seeking to exclude the invalidated OBC certificates from the identity verification process.
