New Delhi: On September 27, The Wire had reported how a judge presiding over the special intensive revision tribunal in Bengal had noted clearly that the additional chief electoral officer of the state had appealed for the removal of electors who had already been examined by judicial officers and restored to the rolls.On September 30, news broke that the judge has offered to resign, citing the commute between his residence and place of work.Retired Justice Indrajit Chatterjee is presiding over the appellate tribunal number 11 in Murshidabad, a Muslim-majority district which has seen the highest exclusions among districts in Bengal. The Wire‘s Aparna Bhattacharya had reported that across the state, 49 booths had half or more of their rolls marked ‘not eligible’ and 38 of them were in Murshidabad.Bhattacharya’s analysis had shown, taking off from Justice Chatterjee’s formal order, that appeals were generated in bulk against the inclusion of almost 16 lakh voters.On August 12, according to the Indian Express, Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu wrote to Election Commission of India (ECI) officials asking who had been authorised to file appeals on the commission’s behalf before the West Bengal tribunals, and who had actually filed them.Justice Chatterjee has written to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta high court, Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge, expressing his wish to discontinue from November 2, 2026, reports say.He told The Hindu that the long commute is what is responsible.“The government is spending a lot on my vehicle and pilot car. But I have to commute 70 to 80 km from my residence, which takes three to four hours every day. It is difficult to continue under such circumstances.”He told the newspaper that at least one of his fellow judges was also likely to resign soon. In May, Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, a former chief justice of the Calcutta high court, resigned as an appellate tribunal judge as well.The Telegraph reported that as long as he has worked, Justice Chatterjee could only hear about 10 appeals a day, adding, “At this rate, it will take around 145 years to dispose of all the remaining 5 lakh cases if he works 365 days a year.”“The journey to Joka takes around two hours. I cannot decide more than 10 appeals a day. If I am allowed to hear appeals from my home or an alternate venue closer to home, I will continue. Otherwise, my resignation will come into effect from November 2,” Justice Chatterjee told Telegraph.More than 27 lakh names were removed from Bengal’s voter lists citing ‘logical discrepancies’. Their names were not restored in time for the April 2026 assembly elections. In an affidavit to the Supreme Court, the Election Commission said that 22 lakh voters have filed appeals challenging their exclusion.A series on how the adjudication process of the Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal continues in Bengal looks closely into this struggle. Read part one, here, part two, here, and part three, here, part four, here, and part five, here.For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.