Bengal SIR row: Cricketer Mohammed Shami, brother summoned in Kolkata, says report

Shami is enrolled as a voter in Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Ward No. 93, which falls under the Rashbehari Assembly constituency.

The Election Commission has summoned Indian cricket team pacer Mohammed Shami and his brother, Mohammed Kaif, to appear for a hearing as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in Kolkata, according to India Today.

The report stated that notices were issued on Monday from Kartju Nagar School in the Jadavpur area of south Kolkata. The brothers were directed to appear before the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO).

Shami could not attend the scheduled hearing as he was representing Bengal in Rajkot in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Shami’s hearing has been scheduled to take place between January 9 and 11.

Shami is a voter in Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Ward No. 93, which falls under the Rashbehari Assembly constituency. Though born in Uttar Pradesh's Amroha, he has been a permanent resident of Kolkata for several years.

Election Commission insiders told India Today that the names of Shami and his brother surfaced on the hearing list owing to complications in their enumeration forms. The issues relate to discrepancies in progeny mapping and self-mapping.

Meanhiile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said she would move court against the poll panel's SIR of electoral rolls in the state, alleging that the exercise has triggered fear, harassment and administrative arbitrariness, leading to deaths and hospitalisations.

Addressing a public meeting in Sagar Island in South 24 Parganas district, she alleged that names were being "arbitrarily struck off" the voter rolls without valid reasons, turning a routine administrative process into a source of fear ahead of the assembly elections. "We are moving court tomorrow against the inhumane treatment and the death of so many people due to the SIR," she said. "If allowed, I will also move the Supreme Court and plead as a common person against this inhumane exercise. I am also a trained lawyer," she said.

Banerjee, however, did not clarify whether the petition would be filed by her personally, the state government or the Trinamool Congress. The CM claimed that terminally ill people and elderly citizens were being forced to stand in long queues to prove they were legitimate voters.

"How would BJP leaders feel if someone made their old parents stand in line to prove their identity?" she asked. "Since the SIR began, so many people have died due to fear, and several others are in hospital," she claimed.

Banerjee also took on the BJP over alleged discrimination against Bengali-speaking migrant workers in the states it rules.

"I dare them to kill me, but I will not stop speaking in my mother tongue," she said, asking whether speaking Bengali has become a crime in the country.

The CM alleged that the BJP induces people with pre-election sops and indulges in repression after winning the polls. "They will give Rs 10,000 before elections and use the bulldozer once it's over," she said. "You can torture as much as you want, but it won’t yield any results."