Eminent citizens being harassed during SIR, Mamata writes again to CEC

Raising the issue of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) notices being sent to prominent personalities, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote yet another letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday (January 10, 2026), alleging that not only common citizens but also eminent personalities are being harassed during the exercise.  

“It is a matter of profound shame that Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen — a nonagenarian and a globally respected intellectual — has been asked to appear before the Election Commission officials to establish his credentials. Similarly, eminent and widely respected personalities such as renowned poet and awardee Joy Goswami, popular film actor and Member of Parliament Shri Deepak Adhikari, international cricketer Mohammed Shami and the Maharaj of Bharat Sevashram Sangha have also been subjected to this unplanned, insensitive and inhuman process,” the Chief Minister said in the letter.  

A notice for the SIR hearing was sent to Professor Sen earlier this month, but later the ECI issued an order, saying that overseas citizens are exempted from the SIR hearing.  

Ms. Banerjee said that these were only a few examples of known personalities, and there are many more who have been put to such undue harassment. This was the fourth letter which Ms. Banerjee wrote to Mr. Kumar since the start of the SIR. The last letter was sent almost one week ago on January 3. 

The Chief Minister also added that “logical discrepancies” — which are, in reality, “entirely illogical” — are being selectively targeted in certain constituencies with political bias. “The so-called logical discrepancy numbers are increasing by the day. It has been reported that the portal being used for West Bengal is apparently different from that used in other States,” she wrote in the letter.  

As in her earlier letters, the Chief Minister referred to deaths allegedly linked to the SIR exercise. “It is shocking that an exercise which should have been constructive and productive has already seen 77 deaths, with 4 attempts to suicide and 17 persons falling sick and requiring hospitalisation. This is attributed to fear, intimidation and disproportionate workload due to unplanned exercise undertaken by the ECI,” she wrote. 

Ms. Banerjee also wrote in the letter that the objective of SIR seems neither of correction nor of inclusion in the electoral rolls, but solely of deletion and of exclusion. “This is unprecedented, deeply unfortunate and strikes at the very core of our democratic polity, one that thrives on the ideals and values enshrined in our Constitution,” she pointed out.  

The Chief Minister’s letter also came with a hand-written note by her to the CEC, which stated, “Though I know you won’t reply or clarify, but my duty is to inform you of the details”. 

Four special roll observers

Meanwhile, in another development, the ECI appointed four more special roll observers for overseeing the SIR exercise in West Bengal. The newly appointed observers are Sandeep Rewaji Rathore, Director, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Ratan Biswas, Census Director, Tripura, Dr. Shailesh, Deputy Secretary, the National Health Authority and Vikash Singh, Director, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. This move follows the previous deployment of 18 roll observers and one special roll observer to oversee the SIR process in the State.  

A Trinamool Congress delegation met West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal and flagged that even now, ill and elderly citizens are being called for hearings. The delegation comprised Ministers Pulak Roy, Shashi Panja and Birbaha Hansda, MLA Seuli Saha, and MP Partha Bhowmick. 

“We repeatedly raised another important issue. While an order has been issued for people staying and working outside the country or outside the State, nothing has been done so far for migrant labourers. This needs to be addressed immediately,” Mr. Bhowmick said.