Have four or more siblings? In SIR season, it may be a ‘logical discrepancy’ in Bengal
Times of India | 20 January 2026
Kolkata: Do you have four or more siblings? If you haven't already received an SIR hearing notice, you may get one soon, because Election Commission is placing such voters in the "logical discrepancy" category.
Not that those with less than four brothers or sisters are being spared the ordeal of hearing. Reason – the AI module tracking "logical discrepancies" in the draft SIR list is treating persons with same name as one individual and their children as siblings, EC sources said.
All such electors are being asked to produce documents to prove that the persons listed as siblings — in AI's analysis of the draft list— are indeed their kin.
The few lucky ones are being helped out by their booth-level officers (BLOs), while the rest have no option but to appear for hearings.
Shyampukur resident Priyanka Nath, who has five siblings, is among those slapped with a hearing notice. As told by EC officials, she produced all relevant documents of her siblings, but that wasn't enough. The name of her father, Basudev Maity, appeared as Basu Maity on the voters' list of 2002 and she has been asked to appear for a second hearing.
A family member said, "She (Priyanka) received the notice as she is her father's youngest daughter. Because of a mismatch in the spelling of her father's name, she has been asked to appear for a second hearing with a court affidavit."
Nath's BLO said, "We are only serving notices and performing duties assigned by EC. Those with multiple errors in documents are being asked to appear for a second hearing."
Another woman, who refused to be identified, was called for a hearing for the same reason. She refused to submit documents and asked for her name to be deleted from the voters' list.
Sagardighi MLA and industrialist Bayron Biswas has two brothers, Milton and Nipon. All three have got notices asking them to show up with papers of their siblings, which, according to the notice, number more than five.
EC sources said the AI module scanning the draft SIR list has linked the MLA's father, Babar Ali Biswas, with five other men of same name and treated all six as one person, though each has a different address.
"This is just harassment," the MLA said. "We will attend the hearing on Jan 24."
Dilshad Das has four siblings. But if the hearing notice served on him is to be believed, he has two more, about whom he knows nothing. "We have been living in Hooghly's Bansberia for generations... Suddenly this hearing notice comes asking me to produce papers of my six siblings. But there are only four of us," said a visibly angry Das.
A BLO who served such a notice on an elector said, "EC used AI to extract information from the 2002 list. In many cases, there are spelling differences and changes across documents. We understand this is a technical error, but we have been instructed to issue notices to such voters to clear the doubts. People are misunderstanding us because they have submitted documents once." , and we also took undertakings on behalf of the voters. Everyone who received a hearing notice has shown lineage links, whether it is a father, mother, grandfather, or grandmother. Now, AERO officials are saying that lineage proof will not suffice; it must be shown through one of the 11 documents prescribed by the ECI."