A senior police officer tries to stop All India Trinamool Congress supporters protesting against the SIR issue near the office of the Chief Electoral Officer on April 1, 2026 in Kolkata. Photo credit: ANI
The chief justice of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday (April 1, 2026) informed the Supreme Court that court officials had already disposed of nearly 47 million of the 60 million claims that had been adjudicated during a special intensive review in West Bengal.
During the hearing, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant took note of the apex court’s assurance that the remaining claims would be disposed of by April 7.
Voters whose names were struck out during the decision can appeal to the Courts of Appeal, presided over by former chief justices and judges of the High Courts. Although the Election Commission of India notified the tribunals on April 20, they are yet to start functioning.
Data shared by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in West Bengal shows that after the four additional lists, deletions among cases under review are about 40%. This means that out of 60 lakh, about 24 lakh voters rejected by judicial officials can approach the tribunal. Senior advocate Shyam Divan, who appeared for the state government before the Supreme Court on Wednesday (April 1, 2026), pointed this out and said that under-trial voters have a “very high exclusion rate” of around 45%.
About 63 million voters were struck out when the final list was published on February 28. If the 24 million voters who were struck out during the decision are added, the total reaches 87 million. The electoral roll of the state has 7.04 million voters, which includes 60 million cases to be decided. The tribunals will start working from April 2 and it is unlikely that all rejected cases will be resolved before the vote, which is planned in two stages on April 23 and April 29.
With more than 80,000,000 cuts, the electoral roll is likely to drop below 7 million voters. During the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the state had 7.60 million voters, while it was 7.34 million during the 2021 assembly elections.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee welcomed the development at the Supreme Court, saying her party would support voters approaching the tribunals. “I am happy today. Attempts to include outside voters have been thwarted by the Supreme Court,” she said.
Speaking at a public meeting in Nanoor, Ms. Banerjee said the newly appointed Election Commission officials were tasked with rejecting the nominations of her party’s candidates and urged them to be careful while filing nominations.
Over the past two days, supporters of the Trinamool Congress staged demonstrations outside the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) office, alleging that the BJP was submitting Form 6 applications en masse. On Wednesday, bans under Section 153 of the Bharatiya Nyay Samhita were imposed in front of the CEO’s office in Kolkata and the protesters were asked to leave the premises.
Published – 01 Apr 2026 22:36 IST
