Supreme Court Sets 5 PM Thursday Deadline for Bengal EROs to Surrender Pending Voter Documents to Judges
New Delhi, February 25, 2026 — To address the backlog in West Bengal’s electoral roll revision, the Supreme Court today directed Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant EROs (AEROs) in the state to hand over pending voter documents to the presiding judicial officers.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, alongside Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, ordered that verification documents received from voters on or before the cut-off date of February 14, which have not been uploaded to the official portal, must be submitted to the deployed judicial officers by 5:00 PM on Thursday, February 26.
Madhyamik Admit Cards Validated for Verification
During the hearing, the Supreme Court issued a clarification regarding acceptable identity proofs. Responding to an oral mentioning by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the bench clarified that a Madhyamik (Class 10) admit card may be submitted alongside the pass certificate to establish an elector’s date of birth and parentage.
Application of Article 142
The Supreme Court’s directives involve the application of Article 142 of the Indian Constitution. This article grants the Supreme Court the power to pass decrees or orders necessary for doing “complete justice” in any matter pending before it, which can include modifying standard administrative procedures or deadlines.
The ECI is scheduled to publish the final electoral roll on February 28, 2026. However, with nearly 50 lakh voter verifications pending amidst differences between the state government and the ECI, there was a risk of eligible voters being excluded from the final list due to administrative delays.
To address this, the Supreme Court invoked Article 142. The court ruled that while the ECI will publish the primary list on February 28, the judicial officers will continue verifying the pending backlog. As these voters are verified, their names will be published in “supplementary lists.” The court mandated that those added to these supplementary lists will legally be deemed part of the original February 28 electoral roll.
Prior Court Directives
These directives follow the Supreme Court’s earlier orders this month. Citing a “trust deficit” between the state government and the ECI, the court transferred verification duties from state bureaucrats to serving and retired judicial officers.
Due to the high volume of pending verifications, the Supreme Court yesterday authorized the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to deploy junior and senior civil judges. The court also permitted the inclusion of additional judicial officers from the neighboring states of Odisha and Jharkhand to expedite the vetting process.
