EC Asks Bengal SIR Tribunal Judges To Use PAN, ID For Digital Signatures: Report

West Bengal’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) appeal process remains stalled as judges appointed to hear voter-roll cases have not logged in to the Election Commission’s portal over its Aadhaar authentication requirement. The poll panel has now asked them to obtain digital signature certificates (DSCs) using their PAN cards and government-issued identity documents.

The CEO’s office asked the judges last week to apply for the certificates through a private agency, The Indian Express reported. An October 28 email from the agency listed the documents required: colour scans of the applicant’s PAN card and government ID, a photograph, a mobile number and email address, plus the authorising person’s government ID and an authorisation letter. The process also includes one-time password checks and video verification. Each certificate costs ₹2,300.

Judges Objected To Aadhaar Login

The Election Commission added the Aadhaar authentication screen to the tribunal portal on September 21, after its Director General (IT), Seema Khanna, presented portal updates to the judges.

Three days later, the tribunals’ venue-in-charge wrote to West Bengal’s additional chief electoral officer seeking removal of the feature. “The Honourable Judges at the Appellate Tribunal require the Aadhaar authentication screen removed from the AT portal for the purpose of disposal of appeals,” the letter said, according to The Indian Express.

The judges have since stopped logging into the portal, though they have continued working offline, sources told the newspaper. The Election Commission’s data submitted to the Supreme Court showed that 1.26 lakh of 38.31 lakh appeals had been disposed of by September, leaving more than 37 lakh pending.

EC Makes Other Portal Changes

The authentication dispute is one of several concerns judges have raised about the portal. On November 2 tribunal judges had also objected to a restriction on the documents they could consider. The Supreme Court had described the list of 13 documents as indicative, not exhaustive.

Later, The Times of India reported that the Commission had added an “any other document” category, enabled bulk uploads and allowed judges to save draft orders. It also reported that the EC planned to replace Aadhaar-based authentication with DSC access within the week.