New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday clarified that Class 10 admit card accompanied by pass certificate can be produced as supplementary documents for identity verification in the ongoing SIR exercise in West Bengal.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalia Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi passed the order after senior advocate D S Naidu mentioned the matter.
The lawyer expressed concerns about whether these admit cards could be allowed to be a standalone identity document.
The Supreme Court said it had already ordered that the admit card be merely a supplementary document.
“All documents mentioned in paragraph 3 of the order dated February 24, 2026, which have not yet been uploaded and received before February 15, must be submitted by Electoral Registration Officers and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers to the heads of judicial bodies by 5pm tomorrow.
“Similarly, Paragraph 3 has been clarified so that Madhyamik admit cards can be submitted along with the pass certificate for the purpose of birth certificate and lineage purposes,” the bench said.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed deployment of civil judges in West Bengal, in addition to 250 district judges, and summoned judicial officials from Jharkhand and Odisha to deal with 80,000 claims and objections from those facing removal from the electoral roll in the ongoing SIR exercise in the state.
It took note of a February 22 letter from Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul that even if 250 district judges were deployed for the special intensive review exercise, it would take about 80 days to deal with the allegations and objections of those who have been placed under the logical inconsistency and unassigned categories.
Logical discrepancies in the offspring associated with the 2002 voter list include mismatches in the parents’ name and an age difference between the voter and his or her parent of less than 15 years or more than 50 years.
While issuing a large number of new directives, Kant noted that even if each judicial official handled 250 claims and objections daily, the completion of the practice would take about 80 days. The deadline for West Bengal SIR is February 28.
The bench allowed Chief Justice Paul to deploy senior and junior division civil judges with at least three years’ experience to verify claims and objections filed by voters.
It asked the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to request his counterparts in Jharkhand and Odisha to summon judicial officers of similar rank to deal with the situation.
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