‘This is how people are being axed from the voters’ list’: Bengal cabinet senior Shashi Panja in SIR hearing queue; TMC IT cell chief also served notice

KOLKATA: Senior Bengal minister Shashi Panja, one of the most trusted cabinet colleagues of CM Mamata Banerjee and a three-time MLA, had to attend an SIR hearing on Sunday because, she said, her name “was missing in the BLO app”. While emerging from the hearing centre, she shot back at Election Commission for its National Voters’ Day celebrations.

“What National Voters’ Day is this? This is sheer harassment,” an angry Panja said outside Keshub Academy.




TMC’s IT cell chief Debangshu Bhattacharya, who contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, has also got a hearing notice.

Panja said her husband and daughters have not been sent any notice.

“(At the hearing centre) I showed them the 2002 voters’ list which has my name, my Aadhaar card and another document (her educational testimonials). But after the hearing, the BLO stepped out and asked for my passport. Why should I show them my passport? I will not. According to EC rules, I am not supposed to give them any documents if my name is on the 2002 list and the 2025 draft SIR list. I still gave them two. If my name is not there in the BLO app, it is their (EC’s) problem, not mine. Why should I be harassed?” Panja said.

She entered the hearing centre at 2pm with her documents in a folder. While she was speaking to reporters outside the centre after submitting the papers, the BLO stepped out and asked her about her passport.

That infuriated Panja. The minister would have left but her aides – including the local councillor – advised her to hear out the additional electoral registration officer to understand the issue.

Panja walked in a second time. Speaking to reporters later, she said, “The ERO (electoral registration officer) spoke to me. I was told that I did not have to submit any other document as my name was there on the 2002 list. This only proves that what we (Trinamool) have been saying all along is correct. I may have been lucky, but this is how people are being axed from the voters’ list.”

Panja’s party colleague Debangshu Bhattacharya wrote on X after getting the hearing notice, “Time to prove that I am an Indian.” He said his sister and two cousins have also been called to hearing.

“My parents and my uncle have their names on the 2002 list. There is no spelling mismatch. Nor are there any errors,” Bhattacharya said. “But this is understandable. They are using AI to scan social media behaviour. Those who are critical of BJP will be slapped with hearing notices. Deletion of even a few names from the voters’ list will help BJP.”

Trinamool seniors who were earlier slapped with SIR notices are actor-MP Dev, junior minister Tajmul Hossain, and MPs Samirul Islam and Bapi Haldar.


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