# Fourth judge quits Bengal SIR tribunal, backlog concerns mount 2026-11-07T14:56:47+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 5 independent outlets Retired Calcutta High Court judge Biswajit Basu resigned from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) tribunal on Saturday, 7 November 2026, citing personal reasons. He is the fourth of 19 retired judges to step down from the panel, which was set up on the Supreme Court's directions to hear appeals from voters excluded during the electoral roll revision in West Bengal. Earlier resignations include former Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam (family issues), Justice Indrajit Chatterjee (long commute and bad roads), and Justice Ranjit Kumar Bag (personal reasons). More than 37 lakh appeals are pending before the tribunals. Basu also heads a commission investigating institutional corruption appointed by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. The Election Commission has agreed to tribunal chiefs' demands for better infrastructure and a central location, but changes have not yet been implemented. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Coverage of the fourth resignation is uniform across all five outlets, with no discernible editorial slant. Every source reports the same facts: the resignation, the identity of the judge, the personal reason cited, and the context of a growing backlog. The Hans India, Indian Express, Deccan Chronicle, Hindustan Times and The Federal each present the story in a straight news agency style, attributing details to court officials, EC sources or the judge's letter. None foregrounds a political interpretation or frames the development as a failure of the state government or the Election Commission. The consistent neutral tone means the analysis rests on the factual implications: with four judges gone and over 37 lakh appeals pending, the tribunals' capacity to clear cases is the open question. ## Coverage Coverage: 5 sources, 5 neutral - thehansindia.com (neutral report) Straight factual report, no political slant. - indianexpress.com (neutral report) Detailed factual account, no editorialising. - deccanchronicle.com (neutral report) Plain reporting, no slant detected. - hindustantimes.com (neutral report) Straight news, quotes both TMC and BJP. - thefederal.com (neutral report) PTI syndicated, neutral wire copy. This brief was synthesised by AI from the 5 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Tags: Biswajit Basu, Calcutta High Court, Election Commission of India, Supreme Court, Suvendu Adhikari, West Bengal SIR Tribunal Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/fourth-judge-quits-bengal-sir-tribunal-backlog-concerns-mount/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/fourth-judge-quits-bengal-sir-tribunal-backlog-concerns-mount/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/