Supreme Court seeks responses on plea seeking disclosure of voter revision data

PTI, July 17, 2026, New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Election Commission, the West Bengal Government and the State Election Commission on a PIL seeking disclosure of Assembly constituency-wise data of claims and objections filed by deleted voters during the SIR process.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohan was hearing the plea filed by Prasenjit Bose, chairperson of the SIR Committee of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee.

The petition, filed through lawyer Neha Rathi, sought Assembly constituency-wise data relating to the West Bengal Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, including the number of Forms 6 and 7 filed, admitted and rejected, as well as details regarding the pendency and disposal of appeals before the appellate tribunals.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayan, appearing for Bose, said that the manner in which 18 tribunals set up to deal with the claims and objections of deleted voters are functioning is causing discrepancies and delays at a practical level.

Sankaranarayan said due to deletions, the persons are excluded from welfare measures like the Public Distribution System and Annapurna schemes in the State, and they are being denied caste certificates as well.

The Bench referred to the judgment delivered in the Bihar SIR case and said: "There is a corresponding duty on the Election Commission that when a tribunal says a person cannot be on the SIR list, the EC has to refer the case to the Union Ministry for the determination of citizenship under the Citizenship Act."

"The Election Commission is not a constitutional authority concerning the determination of citizenship. There is no confusion in law. The Election Commission has control and superintendence over the electoral roll," the Bench added.

The senior lawyer said that 33.5 lakh appeals are still pending and the disposed of cases show that 70 per cent claims are allowed. "So, in the meantime they are decided, they are ousted from PDS and other schemes...," he added.

The Bench agreed to hear the fresh plea with the pending petitions, including the one filed by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the SIR issue, on August 25.