14L pending cases disposed of so far, says Bengal CEO
Times of India | 13 March 2026
Kolkata: Judicial officers have so far disposed of close to 14 lakh cases, Bengal chief electoral officer Manoj Agarwal said on Thursday. After attending a meeting chaired by Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court Justice Sujoy Paul, Agarwal said, "It is an ongoing process, and the work is progressing at speed."
On the direction of the SC, close to 700 officers were appointed to dispose of the 60 lakh pending SIR cases marked "Under Adjudication".
The SC, in its order on Tuesday, said, "In so far as the issue of publication of the supplementary lists is concerned, both sides shall be at liberty to approach Hon'ble the Chief Justice of the High Court at Calcutta for the publication of the supplementary list of the persons whose objections already stand disposed of. Once the Hon'ble Chief Justice of the High Court at Calcutta makes recommendations to this effect, the Election Commission of India shall do the needful immediately."
The issue of publishing the supplementary lists was also discussed in Thursday's meeting. "How the supplementary lists are to be published and what changes are required in the software were discussed in the meeting," said special roll observer Subrata Gupta.
The first supplementary list is likely to be published either on Tuesday or Wednesday, a source said.
When asked about constitution of the tribunal as directed by the SC, Gupta said, "The Chief Justice of the Calcutta HC will decide on it."
The SC on Tuesday directed that Appellate Tribunals comprising former HC Chief Justices and former HC Judges be constituted to hear appeals against exclusions in the SIR process, after concerns were raised about the absence of an independent appellate mechanism. Voters rejected by judicial officers can appeal to this tribunal.
The EC is planning to deploy an increased number of observers for Bengal, an EC official said. The official hinted there may be 250 general observers, over 70 police observers, and more than 84 expenditure observers. EC appointed 294 returning officers for the Bengal assembly polls.