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.
Cricketer Mohammed Shami, Trinamool MP Dev summoned for SIR hearing in Kolkata
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.
