Adhir Moves SC Over Bengal SIR Deletions

Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court, challenging what he describes as the "arbitrary deletion" of roughly 2.7 million names from the West Bengal voter list. These deletions occurred during a special intensive revision (SIR) exercise earlier this year. Chowdhury's plea highlights that the removal of these names is actively depriving many underprivileged citizens of essential social and government welfare benefits. The petition also calls for the deployment of an adequate number of judges to manage the state's significant caseload, noting that the situation has worsened since the retirement of former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam from the SIR tribunal. The plea points out that with only two functional tribunals in Murshidabad handling a limited number of cases daily, clearing the existing backlog could take four to five years. Furthermore, the petition states that nearly 500,000 voters in Murshidabad district alone had their names removed due to minor clerical errors, without being granted a fair hearing. To expedite the process, the petition advocates for the establishment of block-wise appellate tribunals in heavily affected districts like Murshidabad and Malda. It also calls for a transparent digital portal enabling public access to daily cause-lists and judicial orders.

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Due to the deletion of their names, many underprivileged citizens are being actively deprived of various essential social and government welfare benefits.