Supreme Court
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday granted the Election Commission of India (ECI) one week to respond to fresh interim pleas filed by two Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs, alleging “arbitrariness and procedural lapses” in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the party-run West Bengal.A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi rejected ECI’s request for two weeks and directed it to file a common response to the interim pleas filed by TMC MPs Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen. The bench listed the plea for hearing on January 19.In his plea, O’Brien contended that the ECI is issuing instructions for SIR through “extra-statutory” means such as WhatsApp messages and oral directions during video conferences, instead of formal written orders. Drawing the CJI-led bench’s attention to this, his counsel, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, said such practices compel booth-level officers (BLOs) to act without lawful authorisation.Sibal added that the ECI has introduced a new category of voters termed “logical discrepancies”, under which electors may be issued notices for quasi-judicial hearings on alleged errors in voter details, without any statutory backing. “The draft electoral roll published on December 16, 2025, led to the deletion of 58,20,898 names without notice or personal hearing. Nearly 31,68,424 voters could not be mapped with the 2002 electoral roll and that notices were proposed to be issued to about 1.36 crore electors under the ‘logical discrepancies’ category,” O’Brien’s application stated.The Rajya Sabha MP has sought directions to extend the January 15 deadline for filing claims and objections, restrain the ECI from issuing instructions through informal channels, and declare such instructions illegal. The plea also flagged long queues, unclear documentation requirements, restrictions on party booth-level agents, and hardship to senior citizens, persons with disabilities and medically unwell voters.A separate plea filed by his party and Rajya Sabha colleague Dola Sen similarly challenges the SIR as arbitrary and unconstitutional, warning of wrongful deletion of genuine voters.The West Bengal assembly elections are expected to be held in April–May. The Trinamool Congress, which has been in power since 2011 under chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the party supremo, will be seeking a fourth consecutive term.(With PTI inputs)