EC says OBC certificates issued after 2010 won't be accepted for SIR claims

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued a significant clarification regarding the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal. According to the latest directives, OBC certificates issued by the state government after 2010 will no longer be accepted as valid supporting documents for establishing identity during the claims and objections phase. This move comes as the state undergoes a massive voter list cleanup ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, where over 58 lakh names have already been marked for deletion.

This clarification follows a directive from a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on December 24, 2025, which asked the ECI to state its position on these specific documents. The ECI’s stance is rooted in a prior landmark judgment delivered by a division bench of the Calcutta High Court on May 22, 2024, which scrapped all OBC certificates issued in West Bengal since 2010. The court had termed the classification process illegal and unconstitutional, effectively barring the use of these certificates for any future official purposes.

The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in West Bengal has communicated this strict instruction to all District Election Officers (DEOs), District Magistrates, and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs). Officials have been warned that they will be held personally accountable for any lapses or violations of this rule. While there are 13 alternative documents prescribed by the ECI for identity proof—including SC/ST certificates and pre-2010 OBC documents—the controversial post-2010 batch is now strictly excluded.