SIR Bengal: Retired IFS officer, wife get hearing notices from Election Commission
Telegraph | 16 January 2026
The Election Commission on Thursday issued a notice to former foreign secretary Krishnan Srinivasan, who turns 89 next month, to attend a hearing as part of the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list.
Srinivasan, a retired Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, and his social worker wife, Brinda Srinivasan, 79, were issued hearing notices at their home on Nafar Kundu Road in Hazra here by their booth-level officer (BLO), Debolina Maity.
The notices were sent on behalf of Saswati Das, the electoral registration officer (ERO) of the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency (represented by chief minister Mamata Banerjee). The couple were asked to appear for the hearing in Alipore’s Survey Building in the afternoon of January 19.
“You have not filled in the details related to you or your relative that could establish you or your relative as a registered elector in the electoral rolls prepared during the previous SIR,” read the notice.
The 92-year-old Nobel laureate economist, Amartya Sen, and 81-year-old former chief of India’s naval staff, Admiral Arun Prakash, had earlier received hearing notices.
As his wife would be out of Calcutta till January 26, Srinivasan sought an appearance on January 27 instead, which was granted. He could have been eligible for a hearing at home on account of his age, but he chose to opt for the physical appearance at
the venue.
“We were not able to confirm (in the enumeration forms filled out and submitted on November 16 last year) that we had voted in 2002, simply because we were not in India, my wife and I. At the time, I was representing India as the deputy (political affairs) to the secretary-general of the Commonwealth Secretariat in London,” Srinivasan told The Telegraph.
“I saw we were present in the provisional (draft) roll published last month, so I was a little surprised to get this subsidiary notice,” said the Chennai-born with education from Bedford School and Christ Church, Oxford, before joining the IFS.
He served as India’s foreign secretary during the P.V. Narasimha Rao government, under Dinesh Singh and Pranab Mukherjee as external affairs ministers.
“(In 2002) I was a London resident for seven years, and had permanent resident status, which is why I couldn’t vote here. I held a diplomatic passport at the time, since 1959 in fact, when I joined the IFS,” said Srinivasan, who, after two terms as Commonwealth deputy secretary-general, did several academic fellowships, including at Wolfson College and the Centre for International Studies, Cambridge, and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London.
“I’ve got to make it clear, I’m not aggrieved about the necessity of making re-checks, I’m just disappointed that some common sense could’ve been used to cut this long story short,” said Srinivasan, who alongside his diplomatic career has published memoirs, scholarly works on international relations, poetry, and the Ambassador Marco series of crime novels, besides hundreds of columns and book reviews — on international affairs and various other subjects — for numerous media outlets, including this newspaper.
“I think the initial form had the scope for more details in it — why a person might not have been on the roll in 2002 — it would have been quite simple to avoid this unnecessary follow-up,” he added.
Going by the apparent logic of this discrepancy in the eyes of Nirvachan Sadan, the couple’s only son, Rohan, could have also faced similar problems had he been an Indian citizen.
“I see the fault as being with the three wise men in the EC in Delhi. The local officers are just following the rules and have no discretion,” said Srinivasan.
However, he is not worried about the hearing or its consequences.
“That’s fine, because we can certainly show we were not in India at the time and explain why. But I would’ve thought that the explanation, even in November last year, indicating that I was at that time an Indian diplomat working for the country abroad, would’ve been sufficient, honestly. It’s common sense. But apparently, more than that is required,” he said.
“I would’ve thought that some common sense would’ve been sufficient to prevent this unnecessary waste of time both for us and the enumeration authorities,” he added.
Absolving the BLO, he said: “(Maity) has always been very helpful and considerate, I must say.... Works for the state government, diligently following orders and carrying out her responsibilities. No fault of hers... not her doing but her superiors’.”
“One request... please don’t make it a big affair. I don’t want to do that.... I don’t think my case is something tremendously newsworthy,” added the Calcutta resident who served India in numerous diplomatic capacities for over four decades, in Norway, Lebanon, Libya, Zambia, Botswana, Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, The Netherlands, Bangladesh, and the UK.
No to admit cards
The Election Commission has rejected a proposal sent by the Bengal chief electoral officer’s office to accept the Madhyamik admit card as a valid document for SIR in the state.
“... as per the Commission’s instructions issued vide letter dated 27.10.2025 for the conduct of SIR in West Bengal, the Madhyamik (Class X) Admit Card is not listed as an admissible document for verification purposes... In view of the above, the Commission is of the opinion that the proposal to accept Madhyamik Admit Card as a valid document cannot be acceded to,” reads a letter sent by the EC to the Bengal CEO
on Thursday.
Sources said that the CEO had sent the proposal as the Madhyamik admit card contains the date of birth of examinees.
“But complaints were lodged that thousands of duplicate admit cards were issued by the authorities concerned after the SIR was announced. In such a situation, it would not be easy to verify the authenticity of recently issued admit cards. This is perhaps the reason why the proposal was turned down,” said a source.