January 20, 2026 : The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission of India to make public the names of voters placed on the “logical discrepancies” list during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal. The direction came while the court was hearing petitions alleging arbitrariness and procedural lapses in the revision exercise.
A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Dipankar Datta and Joymalya Bagchi, noted that around 1.25 crore voters in the state have been flagged under the discrepancies list. The bench observed that individuals likely to be affected by the SIR process must be given a fair opportunity to submit documents or raise objections.
Emphasising transparency, the court said the revision exercise should not cause undue inconvenience to voters. It directed the Election Commission of India to display the names of such voters at gram panchayat bhavans and block offices. These locations will also serve as designated centres for submitting documents and objections.
The Supreme Court further ordered that the Director General of Police of West Bengal must ensure that the process is carried out smoothly and without any law-and-order issues.
The discrepancies identified in the SIR include errors in linking voters with the 2002 electoral rolls, such as mismatches in parents’ names and cases where the recorded age difference between a voter and their parent is less than 15 years or more than 50 years.
