Supreme Court Won't Advance Hearing of 18,000 West Bengal SIR Appeals

The Supreme Court has indicated that it will not take up 18,000 appeals related to West Bengal's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls on an advance priority basis.

Chief Justice Surya Kant said the court would not separately advance the hearing of these 18,000 appeals. The hearing focused on the large volume of SIR-related appeals and the process for their disposal.

The Election Commission has earlier informed the Supreme Court that more than 38 lakh appeals related to West Bengal's SIR have been filed, with a large number still pending before appellate tribunals. The Commission has also proposed increasing the number of tribunals to speed up disposal.

During the Supreme Court's proceedings on the SIR matter, the bench has considered issues including the number of appeals involving deletion and inclusion of names in electoral rolls, the pace of disposal and mechanisms for resolving the pending cases.

Source: Anandabazar Patrika. The report was published on September 28, 2026.