Fourth judge resigns from West Bengal SIR Tribunal:Appeals of voters in Murshidabad remain pending; 91 lakh names deleted in West Bengal

Retired Calcutta High Court judge Justice Biswajit Basu has resigned from the West Bengal SIR tribunal in Kolkata, citing personal reasons. He is the fourth among 19 retired judges appointed to the tribunals to step down. Justice Basu and retired judge Indrajit Chatterjee were handling cases from Murshidabad district. With both leaving within a month, the disposal of voters’ appeals in the district has almost come to a halt. Earlier, former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and retired judges Ranjit Kumar Bag and Indrajit Chatterjee had also resigned. News agency PTI, quoting sources, reported that Basu informed the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court of his decision through a letter on Friday. Basu’s resignation affects appeals in Murshidabad A senior Election Commission official said the resignations of the retired judges could affect the disposal of appeals in Murshidabad. The names of a large number of voters from the district have been removed from the electoral roll. Basu’s resignation has further deepened uncertainty over the SIR tribunal. He said, “Both judges have left their posts within a month. This has brought the disposal of voters’ appeals almost to a standstill. This is raising questions about the tribunal’s ability to dispose of pending cases.” Chatterjee, who had resigned earlier, cited the difficulty of travelling around 22 kilometres each day as the reason for his resignation. Bag and Shivgannam also resigned from the tribunal, citing personal and family reasons. They had accepted the responsibility believing it would be a temporary assignment lasting two to three months. However, they later decided to step down because of the large number of pending cases. 91 lakh names removed from voter list In March, the Election Commission set up 19 appellate tribunals for West Bengal in compliance with a Supreme Court order. Around 91 lakh names were removed from West Bengal’s voter list under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Several reasons were cited for this, including “logical discrepancies”. Of the voters whose names were removed, lakhs have appealed to the tribunals. The tribunals are hearing these appeals. He had also said that the facilities and infrastructure available to the tribunal needed to be improved. This would enable cases to be heard more effectively. ​