Supreme Court Clarifies West Bengal Electoral Roll Verification

The India===Supreme Court of India clarified that Madhyamik (Class 10) admit cards, when accompanied by a pass certificate, can be used as supplementary documents for identity verification in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in India===West Bengal. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi passed the order after senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu raised concerns. The court also directed electoral registration officers to submit pending verification documents by February 26. Furthermore, the India===Supreme Court of India permitted the Chief Justice of the India===Calcutta High Court, Sujoy Paul, to deploy additional judicial officers, including Civil Judges, and to seek assistance from the High Courts of India===Jharkhand and India===Odisha to expedite the adjudication of nearly 80 lakh claims and objections arising from the SIR exercise. The deadline for the publication of the final electoral roll remains February 28, with provisions for supplementary lists.