Biswajit Basu Resigns From West Bengal Electoral Revision Tribunal

KOLKATA — Retired Calcutta High Court judge Biswajit Basu has resigned from the West Bengal Special Intensive Revision (SIR) appeals tribunals, becoming the fourth retired judge to step down from the panels.

According to PTI, Basu communicated his decision to the chief justice of the Calcutta High Court through a letter on Friday, citing personal reasons. His departure follows the resignations of former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and retired judges Ranjit Kumar Bag and Indrajit Chatterjee from the 19 panels constituted across the state.

The appellate tribunals were established in March by the Election Commission in compliance with a Supreme Court order to review cases stemming from a massive electoral roll revision. The Special Intensive Revision previously resulted in the deletion of nearly 91 lakh voters from West Bengal’s rolls due to reasons including logical discrepancies.

The exit of tribunal members has created severe operational bottlenecks for the grievance redressal process. According to an Election Commission official, Basu and Chatterjee had been assigned to handle cases originating from the Murshidabad district, where a large number of voters faced exclusion.

An Election Commission official told PTI that the disposal of appeals from Murshidabad voters has effectively come to a standstill, raising serious questions over the tribunals’ capacity to clear the mounting backlog.

Previously, Chatterjee stepped down citing logistical difficulties, including the daily commute of around 22 kilometres alongside a heavy volume of pending cases. Other departing members, including Bag and Sivagnanam, also cited personal and family reasons for their exits.

Basu had earlier acknowledged the inherent challenges in processing such a high volume of cases, noting that the panels function under Supreme Court directions despite infrastructure constraints.