West Bengal SIR | Nandalal Bose's Grandson Deleted From Electoral Roll; Supreme Court Asks Him To Approach Appellate Tribunal

The 88-year-old grandson of Nandalal Bose, who illustrated the Indian Constitution, approached the Supreme Court after he was excluded from the electoral roll in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in West Bengal.

Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, for the applicant, told the bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi about the plight of the applicant.

The bench allowed the applicant to approach the Appellate Tribunal against the deletion. Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, for the Election Commission of India, assured the bench that necessary assistance will be given to the Tribunal to decide the matter.

The Court asked the Tribunal to decide the matter expeditiously.

Last week, the Court had allowed Congress candidate Mohtab Sheikh, who was deleted from the rolls, to approach the Tribunal. As per reports, the Tribunal led by former High Court Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam allowed Sheikh's appeal today.

The Court was hearing today the petitions relating to West Bengal SIR.

Court issues directions for Appellate Tribunals

Today,the bench issued a slew of directions aimed at streamlining the functioning of appellate tribunals constituted in connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, emphasising the need for uniformity in procedure, readiness of infrastructure, and expeditious adjudication of appeals.

The Court noted that the appellate tribunals were headed by former Chief Justices and senior judges, and clarified that the premises shortlisted for their functioning had already been identified in the Court's order dated April 1, 2026.

Addressing concerns regarding deletion or inclusion of names in the voter list, the Chief Justice clarified that grievances relating to the alleged non-availability of reasons for rejection by adjudicating officers would be raised before the appellate tribunals by persons whose names had been deleted from the voter list, or by the Election Commission of India if it was aggrieved by inclusion.

The Court requested the appellate tribunals to revisit the full record, including the reasons provided by adjudicating officers, and observed that the tribunals were at liberty to evolve their own procedure to adjudicate appeals and arrive at independent conclusions.

The Court also took note of a communication received by the Chief Justice of the High Court from a former Chief Justice who had consented to preside over one of the appellate tribunals and had raised issues regarding the process of personal hearing.

In this backdrop, the Supreme Court stressed the need to ensure uniformity of procedure across all 19 appellate tribunals and requested the Chief Justice of the High Court to constitute a team of three former senior most Chief Justices or judges to prescribe a procedure that would be mandatorily followed by all tribunals.

The Court directed that the committee should prescribe the procedure by the next day so that adjudication of appeals could be expedited.

The Court also addressed administrative aspects relating to the functioning of the tribunals. It noted that the Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court had sought clarification from the Election Commission of India regarding readiness of venues for the appellate tribunals.

Recording that the requisite infrastructure had been made available, the Bench observed that the tribunals were ready to function from reallocated premises.

With respect to payment of honorarium to former judges heading the tribunals, the Court directed the Chief Justice of the High Court to obtain their bank account details and ensure that honorarium was paid without delay.

The Court further clarified the mechanism for issuing receipts in cases where appeals were filed offline. It recorded that nodal officers had already been notified for the appellate tribunals and would remain available at the notified premises.

The Bench directed that for offline filing of appeals, receipts should be issued by the office of the District Magistrate.

Case : MOSTARI BANU v. THE ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA AND ORS | W.P.(C) No. 1089/2025 and connected cases