Fourth Judge Resigns from Bengal SIR Tribunal in a Month; Panel Strength Falls to 15

Basu cited personal reasons for his decision and communicated his resignation in a letter to Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge.

His departure comes days after former judge Indrajit Chatterjee also resigned from the tribunal, citing difficulties in commuting to its office.

Chatterjee had said that travelling around 22 km every day had become difficult. He had initially accepted the assignment expecting the tribunal's work to be completed within two to three months. However, the substantial number of pending cases indicated that the process would take considerably longer, prompting his decision to step down.

Former Justice Ranjit Kumar Bagh had also resigned, citing personal reasons without elaborating. Earlier, former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam had left the panel, referring to family-related issues.

Tribunal Now Has 15 Members

The tribunal was constituted on the directions of the Supreme Court and originally comprised 19 retired judges and magistrates. Its primary responsibility is to provide a mechanism for individuals whose names were omitted from the final electoral roll following the SIR exercise to appeal for inclusion.

With Basu's resignation, four of the 19 members have now stepped down, leaving 15 on the panel.

Over 63 Lakh Names Deleted from Final Electoral Roll

The final electoral roll for West Bengal was published on February 28, excluding around 60 lakh cases referred for judicial adjudication. The Election Commission had stated that supplementary lists would be issued as the adjudication process progressed.

Before the SIR notification was issued in November last year, West Bengal had 7,66,37,529 registered voters.

The draft electoral roll, published in December, removed 58,20,899 names. The final roll released on February 28 recorded a total of 63,66,952 deletions.

The tribunal's workload is linked to the cases arising from these deletions. Supplementary electoral rolls are expected to incorporate the outcomes of the judicial scrutiny, allowing applicants whose claims are accepted to have their names restored to the voter list.