Nobel Laureate and economist Amartya Sen. File
| Photograph Credit score: The Hindu
The Election Fee of India (ECI) on Tuesday (January 6, 2026) clarified that Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who was reportedly summoned by the ECI over discrepancies within the spelling of his identify within the voter listing, shouldn’t be required to look for a listening to.
Since Sales space Stage Officers (BLOs) have the authority to right minor errors, together with spelling errors in voter names, the correction within the economist’s case shall be dealt with administratively on the native degree, an official mentioned.
TMC chief Abhishek Banerjee claimed earlier within the day that Mr. Sen has been served with an SIR listening to discover by the EC. A member of the family of Mr. Sen, nonetheless, instructed PTI that that they had not but obtained any listening to discover from the Fee.
“The confusion over the spelling is solely technical and has no bearing on the voter’s eligibility. Our officers have been instructed to resolve such issues on the administrative degree to forestall pointless controversy,” the official mentioned.
The Fee emphasised that minor errors in voters’ names don’t have an effect on the listening to course of or a voter’s rights, and authorities have been warned to keep away from creating public disputes over such technicalities.
In the meantime, the ballot physique issued strict directions to make sure that all notices associated to alleged discrepancies or logical inconsistencies within the voter listing are downloaded instantly and delivered to the voters involved inside the subsequent 4 to 5 days, the official mentioned, including that no lapses shall be tolerated on this job.
Following the directive, the workplace of the State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) despatched directions to all District Electoral Officers, asking for day by day studies on the variety of logical discrepancy notices served constituency-wise.
Earlier, in the course of the first part of the continuing Particular Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists, round 1.36 crore voters have been discovered with knowledge inconsistencies.
After subsequent verification and corrections, the quantity has now come all the way down to roughly 59 lakh voters beneath the logical discrepancy class.
One other supply within the ballot physique mentioned that the Fee will now maintain a gathering with Chief Electoral Officers of all States and Union Territories.
“The emergency assembly, convened by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, is scheduled in New Delhi for January 8 at 10 a.m.,” he mentioned.
Sources mentioned the dialogue is more likely to concentrate on the continuing SIR course of, ballot preparedness, and several other legislation and order points.
Revealed – January 07, 2026 02:06 am IST
