Biswajit Basu becomes fourth retired judge to resign from West Bengal SIR tribunal

Retired Calcutta High Court judge Biswajit Basu resigned from a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) tribunal in West Bengal on Saturday (November 7, 2026), citing personal reasons.

He became the fourth judge to step down, raising questions about the functioning of the 19 tribunals tasked with hearing 38 lakh appeals by voters deleted from the electoral rolls during the SIR process in the State.

Justice (retd.) Basu had previously expressed unhappiness about the functioning of the tribunals, saying, “Resolving lakhs of cases in this manner is a little difficult. Since this has been done on the directions of Supreme Court, it has to be carried out.”

He has sent his resignation to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge. He has also been appointed as chairman of the Commission on Institutional Corruption by the Suvendu Adhikari-led State government.

‘Slow pace of pending cases’

The Election Commission of India had constituted 19 appellate tribunals in West Bengal to hear appeals related to the inclusion or exclusion of voters in the electoral rolls as part of the SIR exercise, with each tribunal headed by retired judges of the Calcutta High Court. Apart from retired Justice Basu, the others who have resigned are former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, former Justice Ranjit Kumar Bagh, and former Justice Indrajit Chatterjee.

Judges presiding over the tribunals have expressed their displeasure over the slow pace at which the pending applications are being disposed of. According to the minutes of a meeting of tribunal judges dated August 11, the majority of the judges complained about the ECINET portal, saying it had failed to work as intended.

However, all those who quit cited personal reasons at the time of their resignation. Justice (retd.) Sivagnanam was the first to resign in May 2026, followed by Justice (retd.) Bagh and Justice (retd.) Chatterjee, who had also complained about the long commute from his residence to the SIR tribunal at Joka.

13% of voters deleted

The SIR process in the State was held from October 2025 to February 2026, just before the Assembly election Over 91 lakh electors were deleted from the electoral rolls; they accounted for about 13% of all voters in the State before the start of the SIR.

According to an affidavit filed by the ECI in September, of the 27 lakh electors who were excluded from the electoral rolls on the ground of ‘logical discrepancies’, 22 lakh have filed appeals before the tribunal challenging their exclusion. The ECI’s affidavit added that 16.10 lakh appeals have also been filed against inclusions during the SIR. This puts the total number of appeals pending before the SIR tribunals at 38 lakh.