Bengal SIR: ECI gives additional clarification on why a hearing notice was issued to Amartya Sen

Kolkata, Jan 7 The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday gave an additional clarification on why the notice for hearing on claims and objections on the draft voters’ list was served to Nobel Awardee Economist, Dr Amartya Sen.

On Tuesday, after the Trinamool Congress general secretary and the party’s Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee, accused the Commission of unnecessarily sending the hearing notice to Dr Sen, the ECI had given its initial clarification that the notice was served because of some "logical discrepancies" arising out of an error in spelling in the enumeration form.

On Tuesday, the Commission had also clarified that while the notice served as a rule in case of "logical discrepancies", there was no requirement for the Nobel Awardee to appear personally at the hearing centre.

On Wednesday, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal issued a statement further clarifying that there was another "logical discrepancy" factor in the enumeration form of Dr Sen, which was in relation to the age difference between Dr Sen and his mother being less than 15 years.

The CEO’s office also informed that the electoral registration officer (ERO) and the booth-level officer (BLO) concerned arrived at the ancestral residence of Dr Sen at Bolpur-Santiniketan in Birbhum district of West Bengal on Wednesday and completed the formalities in the matter.

“The Enumeration Form of Shri Amartya Sen, an overseas elector, was received by his family member, Shri Shantabhanu Sen, who linked him with his mother, Smt. Amita Sen. Since the age difference between the elector and his mother was less than 15 years, a logical discrepancy was flagged by the ERO Net Portal. Notice was generated for Dr Amartya Sen in parity with the other discrepancy cases. Since the elector is aged 85 years plus, ERO/AERO, along with BLO, have visited his residence and completed the formalities,” the statement from the CEO’s office read.

Sen's ancestral residence is at Bolpur-Santiniketan in Birbhum district, and he continues to be a voter there though he has long been residing in the US as a non-resident Indian.

The last time he had voted at Bolpur-Santiniketan was during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

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