Kolkata, 20 February (H.S.) : A political storm has broken out in poll-bound West Bengal following the Supreme Court’s directive to appoint serving and retired judicial officers to oversee the adjudication of claims and objections arising from the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

Political parties across the state have expressed sharply divergent reactions to the order.

Union Minister of State and former West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party president Sukanta Majumdar described the Supreme Court’s directive as a matter of “shame” for the state. He argued that the order reflects the failure to conduct the revision exercise peacefully without judicial intervention.

“Parallel Special Intensive Revision exercises are underway in several states, but controversies have surfaced only in West Bengal. This is because the state government and the ruling party attempted from the very beginning to destabilize the revision process. It is unfortunate for the state,” Majumdar said.

Echoing similar sentiments, former West Bengal Congress president and five-time Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that such an unprecedented direction from the Supreme Court would not have been necessary had the state government and ruling party not created obstacles in the smooth conduct of the revision process.

“In the current regime, West Bengal has repeatedly come into the spotlight for negative reasons, and this is the latest instance,” Chowdhury remarked.

The ruling Trinamool Congress, however, welcomed the Supreme Court’s intervention.

Four-time Lok Sabha member and senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee said the order effectively dismantled the notion that the Chief Election Commissioner alone had the final authority over matters related to the Special Intensive Revision.

“The Chief Election Commissioner believed he alone had the ultimate say. The Supreme Court’s order has made it clear that the decisions of the judicial officers to be appointed by the Calcutta High Court will be final. This is a unique directive, and even this morning I did not anticipate such an unprecedented order,” Banerjee said.

Satarup Ghosh, youth leader and state committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), refrained from commenting directly on the Supreme Court’s order but said his party’s sole expectation was that the revision process, under judicial supervision, be conducted in a transparent manner.

“Our only concern is that not a single genuine voter’s name should be deleted and not a single fake voter’s name should be retained,” he said.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh