Over 10 million people who were excluded from West Bengal’s draft SIR list have been granted another opportunity.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has granted another opportunity to those who were excluded from West Bengal’s draft SIR list. The court has directed the Election Commission to publicly release the names of over 10 million people who were excluded from the draft list due to doubts about their personal information. These individuals will be given 10 days to submit their documents.

Trinamool Congress MPs Dola Sen and Derek O’Brien have filed a petition complaining about irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). During the Supreme Court hearing, they stated that over 10 million voters were categorized as having logical discrepancies and were sent notices. The errors noted by the Election Commission include age differences of up to 15 years between the voter and their parents, age differences of more than 50 years between the voter and their parents, and age differences of less than 40 years between the voter and their grandparents.

Senior lawyer Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the Election Commission, defended the matter, stating that receiving a notice does not necessarily mean that a name has been deleted from the voter list. People can present their case to the Election Commission official by submitting satisfactory documents. Dwivedi pointed out that according to the voter list, one person has 234 children, and seven people have more than 100 children. It is the Election Commission’s job to view such matters with suspicion and request documents.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant agreed with the Election Commission’s argument. Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, representing Trinamool Congress leaders, argued that illiterate people in rural areas should be taken into account. They are being called to such distant places to submit their documents that they cannot travel there. Sibal was also cross-examined by senior advocate Shyam Divan and Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee on behalf of the petitioner.

At the end of the hearing, the court stated that it favors giving time to those who are not included in the list, given the ground realities. The court directed the Election Commission to publish the names of over 1 crore people included in the “logical error” category. These names should be displayed in the Panchayat Bhawan, Tehsil office, or ward office. After this, people can submit their documents within 10 days. People should appear before the officer in person or through their representatives. The facility for submitting documents should be available at the Tehsil office and Panchayat Bhawan.