Four Judges Resign From West Bengal SIR Appellate Tribunal

A fresh development in West Bengal’s electoral administration sees former Calcutta High Court Judge Biswajit Basu resign from the SIR Tribunal. His Saturday departure marks the fourth exit from the 19-member bench, which was established to hear appeals from disenfranchised voters. Basu cited private reasons for his decision and informed the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court accordingly.

The tribunal functions as a critical oversight body under Supreme Court orders, reviewing claims from voters wiped out during the state's intensive census. However, successive withdrawals by high-ranking judicial figures have raised questions about the body's operational stability. Basu follows Justice TS Sivagnanam, who resigned over family concerns, and Justice Ranjit Kumar Bag, who stepped down for private reasons. Justice Indrajit Chatterjee’s earlier resignation emphasized the grueling daily travel distance and the daunting scale of unprocessed appeals, which shattered expectations of a swift two-to-three-month completion.

The sheer magnitude of the voter roll cleanup underscores the tribunal's challenge. The initial registry counted 7,66,37,529 electors. The revision process culminated in the removal of 58,20,899 names during the draft phase and an additional 5,46,053 names later, resulting in a final tally of 63,66,952 deleted entries as of late February.

Almost 60 lakh of these deletions are currently undergoing formal judicial scrutiny. Election authorities have assured that transitional voter lists will be circulated as rulings are finalized. The ultimate goal is to reconstruct the rolls by filtering out erroneous exclusions through court-approved decisions. Those granted favorable rulings will successfully recover their voting rights in upcoming elections.