Kolkata, Jan 6 The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Tuesday, clarified the claims made by the Trinamool Congress General Secretary and Lok Sabha MP, Abhishek Banerjee, accusing the Commission of serving notice for a hearing on claims and objections over the draft voters' list in West Bengal to Nobel laureate and economist Amartya Sen.
Hours after Abhishek Banerjee claimed the matter at a public rally in Birbhum district, the native district of Sen where he continues to be a voter, the Commission had clarified that as regards to Sen, some "logical discrepancies" because of error in spelling in the enumeration form had surfaced and for that no notice has been served to him to appear at the hearing centre.
"The Nobel Awardee economist is 92-years-old. As per the Commission's guidelines, senior citizens attaining 85 years of age and above will not be required to physically appear at the hearing centre, and in their cases, the electoral registration officer (EROs) concerned will personally visit their residences and conduct the necessary hearing for necessary corrections. Since in the case of Sen, the logical discrepancy is just because of a spelling error in the enumeration form, the Commission had directed the booth-level officer (BLO) concerned to fix the spelling errors," said an insider from the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
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.
Earlier on Tuesday, while addressing a rally at Birbhum, Abhishek Banerjee claimed that the ECI had sent a hearing notice to Amartya Sen.
"The man who has made the country proud has been served with a hearing notice. The man who brought global recognition for India -- Amartya Sen -- has received notice for the SIR hearing," Banerjee said.
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