Supreme Court says ‘logical discrepancy’ in Bengal SIR is only an interim arrangement

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has clarified that its approval of the use of the “logical discrepancy” category in West Bengal’s special intensive revision of electoral rolls was only a temporary arrangement, and that the question of its legality remains open, Live Law reported.

A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant made the observation while hearing petitions alleging a lack of transparency in notices issued to voters in Delhi under the ongoing revision exercise. Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the court’s May 27 judgment upholding the SIR in Bihar could not be treated as a binding precedent on every issue arising in the current cases.

“Bihar is not a final determination of every question arising in these proceedings,” Justice Bagchi said. “In Bihar, the Election Commission had not initially undertaken logical discrepancy as a category.”

The Election Commission has issued notices to millions of voters, asking them to explain apparent inconsistencies in their enumeration forms. These include differences in the spelling of parents’ names, unusually small age gaps between parents and children, or parents reportedly having more than six children.

In Delhi, 33.1 lakh of the 97.5 lakh voters on the draft electoral roll received notices. Of these, 13.7 lakh could not be matched with the electoral roll from the previous special intensive revision, while 19.3 lakh were flagged for logical discrepancies.

Several prominent figures, including Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, also received notices during the exercise.

Chief Justice Kant had earlier said there was scope to clarify what exactly the Commission was seeking from voters whose notices cited logical discrepancies. On Tuesday, the Delhi Election Commission said 31.2 lakh voters, or more than 94 per cent of those issued notices, had been cleared for inclusion in the final electoral roll, which is due to be published on December 4.

The SIR was first carried out in Bihar in 2025 and later extended to 12 states and Union Territories during its second phase in late 2025 and the first half of 2026. Critics have argued that the exercise could remove genuine voters from the rolls and influence election results.

In May, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the SIR but clarified that it did not authorise the Election Commission to determine whether a person is an Indian citizen. Despite this, reports have said that some BJP-ruled states have used SIR-related deletions to deny ration cards, while police in certain cases have refused permission for passport renewals.