New Delhi: TMC MP Derek O’Brien has filed an application in the Supreme Court alleging arbitrariness and procedural irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
The application claimed 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.
“The ECI cannot act arbitrarily, capriciously or dehors law, nor can it substitute legally prescribed and set procedures with ad hoc or informal mechanisms,” it said.
Derek O’Brien has filed the application in his pending petition, which has challenged the order and guidelines issued by the poll panel directing SIR in various states, including West Bengal.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Monday announced that she would move court against the SIR, alleging that the exercise has triggered fear, harassment and administrative arbitrariness, leading to deaths, hospitalisations and suicide attempts.
In his application, O’Brien said the draft electoral poll for West Bengal was published on December 16, 2025, “which has substantially aggravated the difficulties faced by eligible and bona fide electors, owing to a continuing series of arbitrary and procedurally irregular actions attributable principally to respondent no.1 (EC)”.
It said that on November 30 last year, the poll panel granted only a limited extension of time in relation to the revision schedule and fixed January 15, 2026, as the last date for submission of claims and objections.
The application has sought a direction to the EC to extend the deadline for submitting claims and objections.
It has also sought a direction to the poll panel to “forthwith stop issuing instructions for compliance by the BLOs (booth level officers) and other officers in the SIR exercise through WhatsApp or other such informal channels” and urged the court to “declare all such instructions issued so far as illegal”.
“The ECI has, in effect, substituted its formal system of statutory communication with what is being informally described at the field level as a ‘WhatsApp Commission’, wherein critical instructions, warnings and consequences of alleged non-compliance are communicated exclusively through messaging platforms,” the application said.
It said such casual communication channels for such a critical exercise have been unheard of in the country since independence and this will in fact have the effect of “absolving decision-makers of accountability”.
“The ECI, as a constitutional authority, cannot abdicate its obligation to issue written instructions governing a process that directly impacts the fundamental democratic rights of citizens,” the application said.
It alleged the draft electoral roll was published in West Bengal on December 16, 2025, and 58,20,898 names were deleted without any notice or personal hearing.
“After the publication of the draft roll, it was initially reported that an estimated 31,68,424 voters could not be ‘mapped’ with the 2002 electoral roll, and would therefore receive hearing notices,” it said.
The application said it was reported that in the course of SIR in West Bengal, the poll panel has created and deployed a new category described as ‘logical discrepancies’ without any written order or guideline, to “issue/decide to issue notices to 1.36 crore electors without any statutory basis”.
It said many voters have reported unnecessary and prolonged waiting queues, confusion over documentary requirements and a lack of clear justification in the notices issued by EC.
The application claimed that the poll panel has now restricted the booth-level agents of political parties from assisting voters at the hearings.
“A particularly distressing aspect of the SIR hearings is the hardship imposed on senior citizens, Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) and medically ailing voters, many of whom are being compelled to appear physically despite serious health, mobility, or age-related constraints,” it said.
It said only in West Bengal, a class of officials named as “micro-observers” have been appointed by the poll panel.
“No such deployment has occurred in other states with higher deletion rates, raising serious concerns about selective scrutiny and the differential application of Election Commission protocols,” the application said.
It said the final roll is due to be published on February 14, even though the entire document verification phase has been “thrown into disarray because of the ECI’s procedural nightmare”.
“The right to be included in the electoral roll is a statutory right with constitutional protection, and the process governing it must meet standards of fairness, reasonableness and due process,” the application said.
Besides several other directions, the application has sought a directive to the EC to ensure that no voter is left out because of errors of “mapping” on its part.
It has also sought a direction to the poll panel to publish the final roll only after the disposal of all claims, objections and hearings.
PTI
