Former HC judge to move tribunal after name removed from Bengal electoral roll

1. At a Glance

• The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal has led to mass deletions and "under adjudication" categorisations of voters ahead of the state's 2026 Assembly elections. [1]
• Even a retired Calcutta High Court judge, Justice Shahidullah Munshi (chairperson, West Bengal Waqf Board), had his name deleted from the roll — illustrating the exercise's scale and error-proneness. [1]
• Tests UPSC aspirants on: electoral roll revision mechanics, statutory appeal remedies (RP Act 1950), and the ECI's administrative machinery (ERO/DEO/CEO/Appellate Tribunal). [2][3]

2. Why in the News

• Justice Munshi's name was struck off in the first supplementary list of under-adjudication voters, published after the post-SIR roll of 28 February 2026; he announced he will approach an appellate tribunal, calling the exclusion "very humiliating" and "harassment," despite submitting passport and offering Aadhaar/PAN. [1]
• His wife and elder son remain in "under adjudication" status despite his own name being outright deleted. [1]

3. Background & Evolution

• SIR is an ECI exercise for house-to-house enumeration and re-verification of electoral rolls, intended to purge names of the deceased, permanently shifted, duplicates, and non-citizens while adding eligible new voters. [3]
• The West Bengal SIR process began in November 2025. [1]
• Post-SIR roll published 28 February 2026; first supplementary list of under-adjudication voters followed (referenced as "Monday" preceding the 26 March report). [1]
• ECI has constituted 19 Appellate Tribunals in West Bengal to hear appeals on inclusion/exclusion arising from SIR. [2]
• The Supreme Court has upheld the legality of ECI's SIR exercise (as of May 2026). [3]

4. Core Static Facts

Item	Detail
Exercise	Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls
Nodal body	Election Commission of India (ECI)
Field hierarchy	Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) → District Election Officer (DEO) → Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) → Booth Level Officer (BLO) [3]
Enabling law for appeals	Representation of the People Act, 1950 — Sections 24(a) and 24(b); Rule 27, Registration of Electors Rules [3]
Appeal route	ECI NET online portal or physical filing at DM/SDM/SDO offices [2]
No. of Appellate Tribunals (WB)	19 [2]
WB electorate before SIR	~7.66 crore [1]
WB electorate after SIR (as of 28 Feb 2026)	~7.04 crore [1]
Names deleted	63.66 lakh (≈8.3% of electorate) [1]
Names "under adjudication"	Over 60.06 lakh [1]
Trigger case	Justice Shahidullah Munshi, retired Calcutta HC judge, Chairperson, WB Waqf Board [1]

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

• Legal/Constitutional: Appeals lie under Section 24(a)/(b) of the RP Act, 1950 read with Rule 27 of Registration of Electors Rules; the process interacts with Article 326 (adult suffrage) and the ECI's Article 324 powers. Supreme Court has upheld SIR's legality but scrutiny of implementation continues. [3]
• Administrative: Scale of exercise (7+ crore electors) executed through CEO-DEO-ERO-BLO hierarchy under tight timelines; supplementary lists and tribunal mechanism are the safety valve for errors. [2][3]
• Social/Governance: High-profile wrongful exclusion (a retired judge) despite submission of passport and offer of Aadhaar/PAN raises concerns about arbitrary deletions affecting ordinary citizens without comparable access to remedy. [1]
• Political: WB SIR is happening ahead of the state's Assembly elections; deletions/under-adjudication of ~1.24 crore names (deleted + under adjudication) combined is politically sensitive given West Bengal's contested electoral history. [1]
• Ethical: Balancing the ECI's stated purge objective (removing ineligible/duplicate voters) against the risk of disenfranchising genuine citizens — due process concerns highlighted by opposition and civil society. [3]

6. Recent Developments (last 12-18 months)

• November 2025: SIR process begins in West Bengal. [1]
• 28 February 2026: Post-SIR electoral roll published; WB electorate reduced to ~7.04 crore from ~7.66 crore. [1]
• ~22 March 2026: ECI news reports on establishment of 19 Appellate Tribunals in West Bengal. [2]
• Around 23-26 March 2026: First supplementary list of under-adjudication voters published; Justice Munshi's name found deleted. [1]
• 28 March 2026: The Hindu reports Justice Munshi's decision to move an appellate tribunal. [1]
• May 2026: Supreme Court upholds legality of ECI's SIR exercise. [3]

7. Prelims Hooks

• SIR stands for Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, conducted by the ECI. [3]
• West Bengal's SIR process began in November 2025. [1]
• Post-SIR West Bengal electoral roll was published on 28 February 2026. [1]
• 63.66 lakh names (~8.3%) were deleted from West Bengal's electoral roll under SIR. [1]
• West Bengal's electorate fell from ~7.66 crore to ~7.04 crore post-SIR. [1]
• Over 60.06 lakh electors were placed in the "under adjudication" category in West Bengal. [1]
• ECI set up 19 Appellate Tribunals in West Bengal to hear SIR-related voter roll appeals. [2]
• Appeals against ERO decisions are governed by Sections 24(a) and 24(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and Rule 27 of the Registration of Electors Rules. [3]
• Appeals can be filed via the ECI NET online portal or physically at DM/SDM/SDO offices. [2]
• Justice Shahidullah Munshi, retired Calcutta High Court judge, is Chairperson of the West Bengal Waqf Board. [1]
• The field-level hierarchy executing SIR is CEO (state) → DEO (district) → ERO (constituency) → BLO (booth). [3]
• The Supreme Court upheld the legality of ECI's SIR process in 2026. [3]

8. Mains Relevance

• GS-II: Polity & Governance — Election Commission of India, Article 324, Representation of the People Act 1950, electoral reforms, statutory bodies vs. tribunals, transparency and accountability in governance.
• Syllabus heading: "Salient features of the Representation of Peoples' Act" / "Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies."
• Possible Mains stems: 1. "Discuss the objectives and administrative challenges of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Examine the adequacy of appellate remedies available to wrongly excluded voters." (GS-II) 2. "Critically examine the balance the Election Commission of India must strike between purging ineligible voters and safeguarding the right to franchise of genuine citizens." (GS-II) 3. "What are the constitutional and statutory safeguards against arbitrary deletion of names from electoral rolls in India? Illustrate with recent examples." (GS-II)

9. Related Topics to Study Next

• Article 324 & ECI powers — constitutional basis for superintendence of elections, including roll revision.
• Representation of the People Act, 1950 & 1951 — statutory framework for electoral rolls and conduct of elections.
• NRC/Assam citizenship verification exercise — comparative precedent for mass roll-scrutiny controversies.
• Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 — relevant since Justice Munshi chairs the WB Waqf Board, a currently contested legal/political issue.
• Delimitation exercise — another electorally sensitive ECI-linked process referenced in current news cycle.
• Right to Vote — statutory vs. fundamental right debate (SC jurisprudence, e.g., PUCL case).
• Aadhaar-voter ID linkage debate — data/privacy dimension relevant to SIR document verification.
• Bihar SIR 2025 exercise — first major SIR rollout, useful for comparison with West Bengal's implementation.

10. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Do not confuse Appellate Tribunals under SIR (quasi-judicial, ECI-constituted, RP Act-based) with regular judicial courts — appeals here follow Rule 27 process, not writ jurisdiction directly.
• Do not conflate "deleted" (63.66 lakh) with "under adjudication" (60.06 lakh) — these are distinct categories with different statuses and remedies.
• SIR is conducted under ECI's administrative/statutory authority (RP Act 1950, Registration of Electors Rules), not a new standalone Act — avoid inventing a "SIR Act."
• Note the correct field hierarchy: ERO (not DEO) is the primary authority whose decisions are appealed; DEO/CEO play supervisory/appellate roles depending on level.
• Avoid mixing up West Bengal's 2026 SIR figures with Bihar's 2025 SIR figures — numbers and timelines differ between states.