Election officials collect documents from Amartya Sen’s ancestral home for SIR

Election officials on Friday visited Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen’s residence at Bolpur in Birbhum district to collect documents as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, a family member confirmed.

Officials visited ‘Pratichi’, Sen’s ancestral home, and collected his Aadhaar card, voter ID number, the death certificate of his mother, Amita Sen, and a letter authorising his cousin Shantabhanu Sen to represent him at the SIR hearing in his absence.

Sen, currently in the United States where he serves as a Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University, is unable to attend in person. “The officials collected the required documents and the authorisation letter for the hearing,” a family member told PTI.

It was not confirmed whether a photocopy of Sen’s Bharat Ratna award was submitted during the process.

The Election Commission had issued a notice last week, scheduling a hearing at Sen’s Santiniketan residence on 16 January after a discrepancy was flagged in his enumeration form. The form listed Sen as linked to his mother, Amita Sen, despite an age difference of less than 15 years. The error was detected via the ERO Net Portal.

“A notice was generated in line with other similar cases. Considering that the elector is over 85 years old, ERO and AERO officials, along with the BLO, visited his residence and completed the formalities,” the office of the chief electoral officer (CEO) of West Bengal said.

Sen, a long-time voter, had previously cast his ballot in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections at the Visva Bharati Staff Club polling station. In the draft 2026 SIR electoral list, his name appears under Part 274, Serial 169, in the Prabasi Bharatiya (non-resident) category.

With PTI inputs