Calcutta high court chief justice Sujoy Paul on Sunday held a two-hour meeting with top state bureaucrats and Election Commission officials as the first batch of serving and retired district judicial officers was appointed to adjudicate disputed voter claims during the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in poll-bound West Bengal, officials said.
“State chief secretary Nandini Chakraborty, director general of police Peeyush Pandey, Kolkata police commissioner Supratim Sarkar and the Election Commission’s (EC) special election observer Subrata Gupta were among those present at the meeting at the high court from 4pm to 6pm,” a court official said, requesting anonymity.
“Around 100 serving and retired judges and additional judges from various district courts were appointed till 4pm. The others will be appointed on Tuesday,” the officer added.
With West Bengal having 294 assembly constituencies, an equal number of serving and retired judicial officers are likely to be appointed to dispose of around 4.5 million disputed claims filed by voters during the SIR.
These cases are to be adjudicated in accordance with an order passed by the Supreme Court on Friday. EC officials said the process is expected to begin on Monday.
The Supreme Court empowered the Calcutta HC chief justice to spare judicial officers to deal with claims falling under the “logical discrepancy” category.
The SIR was rolled out in West Bengal on November 4, 2025. The draft electoral roll was published on December 16, with around 5.8 million names struck off, while another 15.2 million voters were called for hearing as they could not be mapped with the 2002 electoral roll or had logical discrepancies in their enumeration forms. The hearings concluded on February 14, and scrutiny and disposal of cases continued until midnight on February 21.
The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on February 28.
On Saturday, justice Paul cancelled all leaves of judicial officers until March 9 to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court’s order.
