The Supreme Court of India, on Monday 20 April 2026, directed that a report be sought from the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court on whether the appellate tribunals constituted for the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal are actually functioning. A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a mention by Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat that the tribunals were failing to dispose of appeals ahead of the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly polls on 23 April 2026.
Background
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of West Bengal's electoral rolls has been the subject of continuous litigation before the Supreme Court since early 2026. A batch of petitions, led by Mostari Banu v. Election Commission of India and including petitions filed by the Chief Minister of West Bengal and senior Members of Parliament, challenges the large-scale deletion of names from the draft roll.
On 13 April 2026, a Bench led by the Chief Justice invoked Article 142 of the Constitution to direct that wherever appellate tribunals decide voter-exclusion appeals by 21 April 2026 (for the first phase) or 27 April 2026 (for the second phase), the Election Commission of India shall give effect to those orders by publishing a supplementary revised electoral roll. The 20 April 2026 mention arose when counsel alleged that the tribunals were not functioning in substance, making the 13 April timelines illusory.
Polling in West Bengal will proceed in two phases — 23 April 2026 and 29 April 2026 — placing the operational deadlines directly in the path of the electoral calendar.
Key Directions
The Bench's observations and directions on 20 April 2026 include:
Report from Calcutta High Court Chief Justice: The Supreme Court indicated it would call for a report on the functioning of the appellate tribunals, flagging that near-daily mentions before it on SIR matters were unsustainable.
Continuing force of 13 April Article 142 direction: The Bench reaffirmed that the direction requiring the Election Commission to give effect to appellate orders through supplementary rolls remains operative. The 21 April 2026 deadline for Phase-1 voter inclusions continues to run.
Express displeasure at repeated mentions: The Chief Justice observed that recurring SIR-related mentions should have been channelled through a dedicated bench rather than coming up piecemeal.
Continued protection for judicial officers: Consistent with earlier orders in the Malda incident proceedings, security arrangements for judicial officers engaged in SIR duty remain in force.
Implications for Practitioners
The order has immediate operational consequences for counsel advising voters, political parties, and the Election Commission in West Bengal. Practitioners filing representations or appeals on behalf of excluded voters should ensure that appellate tribunal orders are communicated to the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) in the prescribed format within 24 hours of pronouncement, so that inclusion in the supplementary roll can be effected before the Phase-1 cut-off.
For election petition strategy, the sequence of Supreme Court orders establishes a clear record that procedural defects in the SIR process — and any failure by the tribunals to function — will be a live ground for post-poll election petitions under Section 80 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Counsel for aggrieved candidates should preserve tribunal pendency records, ERO non-compliance correspondence, and supplementary roll publication data from the critical 13–22 April 2026 window.
The broader jurisprudential significance lies in the Court's willingness to use Article 142 to engineer a supplementary-roll mechanism where the Representation of the People Act, 1950 did not provide one. Practitioners should watch whether this bespoke remedy crystallises into a precedent usable in future election-adjacent revision exercises across other States.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls?
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a comprehensive house-to-house revision of the electoral roll conducted by the Election Commission of India under the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, typically ordered before elections to verify elector particulars and remove duplicates, deceased voters, and shifted persons.
What is the effect of the Supreme Court's 13 April 2026 direction under Article 142?
The direction requires the Election Commission of India to give effect to any appellate tribunal decision disposed of by 21 April 2026 (Phase-1) or 27 April 2026 (Phase-2) by issuing a supplementary revised electoral roll that restores the successful appellant's name. This operates as a binding Supreme Court direction filling a procedural gap in the existing electoral law framework.
Does the Supreme Court's monitoring end on the polling dates?
No. The Bench has retained seisin of the petitions and the Malda incident proceedings, and the direction to seek a report from the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice indicates continued judicial supervision extending past the 23 and 29 April 2026 polls.