Overview
- Mamata Banerjee personally addressed the bench in a rare in-court appearance by a sitting chief minister, alleging the Special Intensive Revision focuses on deletions.
- Her petition seeks to halt voter removals, quash SIR orders from June and October 2025, and conduct the Assembly elections on the 2025 rolls.
- Counsel told the court roughly 1.36 crore voters are flagged under ‘logical discrepancy’ and about 32 lakh are ‘unmapped’, with hearings pending as the Feb 14 final roll deadline nears.
- The bench stressed that genuine electors must stay on the rolls and urged officials to avoid notices over minor spelling or dialect-related variations.
- On micro-observers, the ECI cited a shortage of state-provided officers, and the court indicated they could be relieved if West Bengal supplies eligible officials, as disputes over accepted documents persisted.