Election officials collect documents from Amartya Sen's ancestral home for SIR
Kolkata (PTI): Election officials on Friday visited Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen's residence at Bolpur in Birbhum district and collected the requisite documents in connection with the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, a family member said.
The officials visited 'Pratichi', Sen's ancestral home, and collected the economist's Aadhaar card, voter identity card number, the death certificate of his mother, Amita Sen, and a letter in which Sen authorised his cousin, Shantabhanu Sen, to appear for the SIR-related hearing in his absence.
Sen is currently in the USA, where he is a Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University.
"The officials from the Election Commission collected Prof Sen's Aadhaar card, voter identity card number, and the death certificate of his mother, Amita Sen. They also took the letter in which Prof Sen authorised his cousin Shantabhanu to appear for the hearing," one of Sen's family members told PTI.
Election officials did not respond when asked whether a photocopy of the 'Bharat Ratna' award conferred on Sen was also submitted for the electoral roll revision process, he said.
The Election Commission last week issued a notice to Sen, seeking a hearing on January 16 at his Santiniketan residence as part of the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
An official at the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said the notice was prompted by a discrepancy in Sen's enumeration form, which listed him as linked to his mother, Amita Sen, despite an age difference of less than 15 years.
The office of the CEO has said that the form, submitted by Sen's family member, was flagged by the ERO Net Portal.
"A notice was generated for Sen in line with other similar cases. Given that the elector is over 85 years old, ERO and AERO officials, along with the BLO, visited his residence and completed the formalities," a statement of the CEO's office said.
Sen became a voter years ago and cast his vote in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections at the Visva Bharati Staff Club polling station.
On the 2026 SIR draft electoral list, his name appears as Part 274, Serial 169, under the Prabasi Bharatiya (non-resident) category.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
