The Election Commission on Wednesday served a notice to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in connection with the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, seeking a hearing of the 92-year-old economist on January 16 at his Santiniketan residence, an official said.
“A hearing notice was issued for Amartya Sen as the age difference between him and his mother is less than 15 years as per the received enumeration form,” an official at the state Chief Electoral Office said.
The notice sent by Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) of Bolpur, Taniya Roy, instructed Sen to be present at his residence on January 16 for the hearing with the necessary documents.
The notice was delivered at his residence “Pratichi”, on Visva-Bharati campus in Santiniketan, by the local Booth Level Officer.
Later, the office of Chief Electoral Officer (West Bengal) in a post on X stated, “The enumeration form of Amartya Sen, an overseas elector, was received by his family member… who linked him with his mother Amita Sen. Since the age difference between the elector and his mother was less than 15 years, logical discrepancy was flagged by the ERO Net Portal. Notice was generated for Amartya Sen in parity with the other discrepancy cases.”
Sen is a voter of Bolpur Assembly constituency in Birbhum district.
As Sen is over 85 years old, the hearing will be conducted at his residence.
“There has not been any special or preferential treatment for any VIP or eminent personalities. All voters are equal in the eyes of the EC,” said the official.
“Any voter facing a problem like his will have to submit any of the 13 documents specified by the EC,” added the official.
The office of the CEO also clarified that summons have been issued to cricketer Mohammed Shami and actor-turned-TMC MP Dev as part of a “routine electoral verification process and not targeted actions”.
According to the CEO’s post, scrutiny of the enumeration forms revealed that the mandatory linkage columns had been left blank by the electors concerned. “The Enumeration Form clearly shows that the linkage columns have been left blank by the elector,” the state CEO’s office said in a post on X.
As per the Election Commission’s notification, such cases automatically call for a hearing.
Meanwhile, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) called the EC notice to the Nobel laureate a “shameful farce”.
“A Nobel laureate should be above any suspicion, right? But what if he’s a Bengali? Then he’ll be slapped with hearing notices as if he were some common criminal,” the TMC posted on X following the handing over of the notice to Sen.
“Amartya Sen, whose groundbreaking works form the bedrock of modern economics, who has brought unparalleled glory to Bengal and the entire nation, and whose ideas are studied in universities across the world, has been issued a SIR hearing notice,” the TMC said.
TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee has alleged that the EC is targeting the people of West Bengal in collusion with the BJP.
“In the name of SIR, the BJP-ECI nexus is targeting people of Bengal. Amartya Sen, who brought global recognition to our country, has been served a hearing notice,” he said during his “Abar Jitbe Bangla” campaign tour.
When asked if Sen was targeted for speaking against the Centre, he replied, “If you’re asking this, it means the question has merit.”