Murshidabad SIR Appeals: Fourth Tribunal Judge Resigns
Share Copy Link copied Justice Biswajit Basu’s exit leaves the district’s voter-appeal hearings with fewer judges, while lakhs of cases are still waiting.Thank you for reading this post, don’t forget to subscribe! November 8, 2026|CoreSignal Fourth Tribunal Judge Resigns Amid Murshidabad SIR Appeals After Justice Biswajit Basu’s Exit Retired Calcutta High Court judge Biswajit Basu…
Justice Biswajit Basu’s exit leaves the district’s voter-appeal hearings with fewer judges, while lakhs of cases are still waiting.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!November 8, 2026|CoreSignal
Fourth Tribunal Judge Resigns Amid Murshidabad SIR Appeals After Justice Biswajit Basu’s Exit
Retired Calcutta High Court judge Biswajit Basu has resigned from the appellate tribunal that hears voter appeals arising from West Bengal’s special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls. He is the fourth of the 19 retired judges to step down. Basu had been handling appeals from Murshidabad, one of the districts with the heaviest exclusions.
A letter to the Chief Justice
Basu wrote to Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Rabindra V. Ghughe on Saturday and cited personal reasons, Deccan Chronicle reported. He was among the 19 retired judges the Election Commission appointed on 20 March to decide appeals under the High Court’s supervision, following Supreme Court directions. His resignation arrives with more than 37 lakh appeals pending from voters seeking restoration of their names.
Two Murshidabad tribunals, two exits in a month
Basu is the second judge from Murshidabad to leave within about a month. Justice Indrajit Chatterjee, who presides over Appellate Tribunal 11 for the district, had written to the Chief Justice offering to step down from 2 November. His reason was a daily commute of about 70 km between Salt Lake and the tribunal at Joka, over poor roads and heavy traffic, as reported by LawChakra. Reports have not been consistent on how many appeals sit before his tribunal; figures of about 6.36 lakh and 7.47 lakh have both appeared.
With both judges gone, the Governance Post wrote, disposal of Murshidabad appeals has almost come to a standstill. A senior Election Commission official reportedly acknowledged that the resignations could affect how quickly the district’s cases are cleared.
The earlier departures
Former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam was the first to go, resigning in early May, days after the assembly elections. Only 136 appeals had been allowed in time for the polls, LiveLaw reported at the time. Retired judge Ranjit Kumar Bag also stepped down, citing personal and family reasons.
The size of the backlog
The numbers explain why each exit matters. The Election Commission told the Supreme Court on 16 September that West Bengal had 38,31,429 appeals: 22,21,118 from excluded electors and 16,10,311 challenging the inclusion of voters. Its affidavits put disposals at about 1.02 lakh, under 3 per cent. Nearly 91 lakh names were removed from the rolls in the SIR.
Justice Chatterjee had also said that roughly four in ten inclusion challenges before his tribunal were filed by the state’s Additional Chief Electoral Officer, a detail first reported by The Wire. The Calcutta High Court has separately suggested that the Centre seek Supreme Court permission to set up SIR tribunals in every district.
Politics around the resignations
The latest resignation comes as Opposition parties continue protests alleging “vote chori” through the SIR and demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Whether a replacement for Basu will be named, and how Murshidabad’s appeals will be reassigned, had not been announced at the time of writing.
