The Trinamool Congress on Monday hailed what it described as a major political and legal victory after the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to publicly disclose the list of voters flagged under “logical discrepancies” during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal—an issue the ruling party had been pressing for weeks.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, ordered that the names of voters called for hearings under the logical discrepancy category be displayed within three days at gram panchayat offices, blocks, talukas, sub-divisions, and ward offices in urban and semi-urban areas. The court also directed the ECI to accept Madhyamik (Class X board) admit cards as valid proof of date of birth during SIR hearings, overturning the poll body’s earlier rejection of these documents. In another key relief sought by Trinamool, the bench ruled that voters may submit documents through booth-level agents with proper authorisation letters.
“This is what we wanted. The EC will now have to publish the list of voters served notices under logical discrepancy,” Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee told supporters in Barasat, North 24 Parganas. “Today, we have defeated them in court. We will also defeat them in the elections in April.”
Calling the order “a slap on those who wanted to snatch the democratic rights of the people of Bengal”, Banerjee said “the BJP’s SIR game is over”. He described the court’s intervention as a decisive blow to what he termed a “cruel, politically motivated and deeply unjust” process.
The controversy began after the Electoral Roll Officers’ Network portal flagged over 1.2 crore entries under logical discrepancies during the SIR exercise. Although the ECI later revised the figure to around 95 lakh voters requiring hearings, the scale of the exercise triggered protests and legal challenges from the Trinamool Congress.
Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen, one of the petitioners before the Supreme Court, welcomed the directions, saying they provided major relief to voters. “With due respect to the Election Commission, an inhuman situation was being created. People were suffering,” she said, adding that the Madhyamik admit card had long been accepted as proof of date of birth in the absence of birth certificates.
During the hearing, Justice Joymalya Bagchi orally flagged the burden on citizens, noting that “over one crore people are affected”. The court also directed that voters be issued acknowledgement receipts for documents submitted to poll officials, addressing concerns earlier raised by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
In a separate direction, the Supreme Court asked the state Director-General of Police to ensure smooth conduct of SIR hearings across West Bengal without any law and order disruptions. The instruction followed reports of violence on Monday at hearing venues in Lalbagh (Murshidabad), Kalyani (Nadia), Jamuria (Burdwan) and Kulpi (South 24-Parganas).
The BJP dismissed Trinamool’s claims of victory. Shishir Bajoria, the party’s in-charge of voter listrelated matters, said the Trinamool was “trying to hide its defeat by claiming victory”, alleging that the Chief Minister herself had attempted to obstruct the SIR process.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission announced plans to nearly double the number of hearing centres from 3,234 to about 6,500 from next week to speed up the process. Officials said they aim to conduct nearly seven lakh hearings a day to complete verification of 95 lakh voters by February 7, the extended deadline.
The court has also extended the timeline for filing claims and objections, including applications for inclusion, deletion and correction of entries. Final electoral rolls for West Bengal are scheduled to be published on February 14, 2026, ahead of the State Assembly elections expected in April–May.
The Trinamool had raised the SIR issue in Parliament, on the streets and before the courts, with party leaders meeting the Chief Election Commissioner on December 31 to demand transparency and the presence of booth-level agents during hearings—demands initially rejected by the poll body but now upheld by the Supreme Court.
