SIR 2.0 | Supreme Court asks EC to display ‘logical discrepancies’ voters list at panchayat, block offices in Bengal

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission to display the names of those on the “logical discrepancies” list at gram panchayat bhavans and block offices, saying that the Special Intensive Revision process in West Bengal should be transparent and not cause inconvenience.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Dipankar Datta and Joymalya Bagchi directed that the offices for submitting documents and objections would be set up within the panchayat bhavans or block offices and asked the West Bengal government to provide adequate manpower to the election authorities.

The court noted that 1.25 crore voters in the state figure on the “logical discrepancies” list. Logical discrepancies in progeny linking with the 2002 voter list included instances of a mismatch in the parent’s name and the age difference between a voter and their parent being less than 15 years or more than 50 years.

The bench observed that this is purely an exercise going under the terms of a constitutional scheme. “Let us ensure that this exercise runs smoothly, it is timely completed by ensuring a transparent measure giving fair opportunity to all those who feel because of some discrepancy they are under unnecessary doubt,” the bench said.

“They must be given fair opportunity and these are matters we have never closed also so that if any difficulty issue arises, we are able to solve it,” the bench added.

The court also said that the DGP of West Bengal would have to ensure that there is no law and order problem and that all the activities would be completed smoothly.

The bench observed that those likely to be affected by the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in West Bengal must be allowed to submit their documents or objections.

The court directed that that every district should meticulously comply with the directions issued by the EC or the state government for the staff for smooth functioning.

During the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for some of the petitioners, questioned the criteria for issuance of notices of hearings for “logical discrepancies.” He said that names like “Ganguly”, “Datta”, etc can be spelt in different ways, and these spelling differences are cited as reasons for notices.

He said in some cases, notices are sent on the grounds that the age difference with the parents is less than 15 years.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, for the poll panel, said that instructions have been given to the officers not to send notices citing spelling differences.

However, he said such cases where the age difference with the parents is 15 years or less are flagged as a “logical discrepancy”.

The bench then asked, ”Why is it a logical discrepancy? How can a 15-year age gap between mother and son be a logical discrepancy?”

“It is not as if we don’t have child marriages in the country,” the bench said.

Dwivedi also referred to instances where records erroneously showed individuals as having 100 children, and suggested that the system itself is prone to significant error.

"Imagine the strain and stress people are going through, we realise that more than one crore people are affected,” the bench observed.

Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee told the court that notices have been sent even to Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen and sitting MPs.

He alleged that a “profiling” of voters was being done.

Dwivedi denied the allegations and said, “If the EC is to be distrusted, let not the EC hold the elections at all.”

TMC MP Derek O’Brien, in his plea, alleged arbitrariness and procedural irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls in the state.

The application said that since the inception of the SIR process in the state, the EC has issued instructions to officers at the ground level through “informal and extra-statutory channels”, such as WhatsApp messages and oral directions conveyed during video conferences, instead of issuing formal written instructions.

Another plea by MP Dola Sen contends that the SIR orders are arbitrary, unconstitutional and will lead to invalid deletion of genuine voters.