Away for Vijay Hazare Trophy, ex-India cricketer misses SIR hearing

Former India cricketer and Bengal team coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla could not appear for a SIR (Special Intensive Revision) hearing on electoral rolls as scheduled because he is in Rajkot participating in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, officials said on Monday.

Shukla was supposed to attend the hearing on 7 January, but was unavailable due to his professional commitments with the Bengal squad, a family source said.

He is the second Bengal cricketer after Mohammed Shami to be summoned for the SIR process. The all-rounder, who represented India briefly in 1999, has assured authorities that he will comply with the summons upon his return from the tournament.

Shukla also served as a legislator from the Howrah Uttar Assembly constituency and as minister of state for sports before retiring from active politics in July 2022.

Shami, also part of the Bengal team for the Vijay Hazare Trophy and a voter from Kolkata’s Rasbehari constituency, was summoned for a hearing between 9 and 11 January but could not appear for similar reasons.

Meanwhile, amid the ongoing SIR process, a group of former footballers staged a protest outside Bhawanipur Club on Rani Rashmoni Avenue in Dharmatala, alleging that attempts to complete two years of SIR work in just two months have caused widespread harassment.

Notices to Amartya Sen, ex-Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash

The ongoing SIR process has also seen notices issued to several prominent public figures, drawing attention and, in some cases, clarification from authorities.

• Amartya Sen: Election Commission officials delivered a hearing notice to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s residence in Santiniketan after a discrepancy was flagged in his electoral roll details, involving the age difference between him and his late mother in official records. The discrepancy was understood to be a technical issue in the submitted enumeration form and will be resolved administratively under standard SIR procedures.

• Admiral Arun Prakash: Retired former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash also received a SIR notice while in Goa. The Election Commission later clarified that the notice was issued because the electoral form he submitted lacked certain mandatory identification details, placing it in an “unmapped category” under procedural requirements. This triggered an identity verification notice, which has since been explained as part of standard SIR processes.

The notices to respected figures such as Sen and Prakash have highlighted how the SIR mechanism generates hearings whenever automatic linkage with existing electoral rolls cannot be established — even if the underlying issue is technical or procedural.