SANTINIKETAN: The age gap between Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and his late mother, Amita Sen, is around 19-and-a-half years. But on Wednesday, an SIR hearing notice reached his Santiniketan house, Pratichi, because the EC found that the age difference was below 15 years.As per the 2025 SIR draft roll, the age of Amartya Sen is 92. On the 2002 voter list, the age of his mother, Amita Sen, was 88. Twenty-three years back, Sen was 69, and the age difference between mother and son was 19 years, not less than 15 years as claimed by the EC.Gitikantha Majumdar, who is in charge of maintaining Sen’s Pratichi home and also takes care of all his official matters, said: “The SIR notice states that there is less than 15 years’ age difference between Amartya Kumar Sen and his mother. But the actual age difference is 19-and-a-half years. I do not know how they (EC) issued this notice. He (Sen) was asked to provide information on Jan 16. This is a deliberate act of harassment.”Majumdar said that as Sen was in the USA now, the election officials would visit his house at Santiniketan on Jan 16, and a representative on behalf of Sen would show the relevant documents to resolve the discrepancy. On Wednesday, EC officials, including ERO Tania Roy and BLO Sombrata Mukherjee, visited Pratichi and handed the notice to his cousin, Shantabhanu Sen, who stays next door. Shantabhanu said: “They said there were some errors in the information (provided in the SIR). This summons was meant to harass Amartya Sen.” The Bengal CEO in a statement on X said: “The enumeration form of Amartya Sen, an overseas elector, was received by his family member Shantabhanu Sen, who linked him with his mother Amita Sen. Since the age difference between the elector and his mother was less than 15 years, logical discrepancy was flagged by the ERO Net Portal. Notice was generated for Sen in parity with the other discrepancy cases. Since the elector is aged 85 plus, ERO/AERO along with BLO visited his residence and completed the formalities.” Sen became a voter and, in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, cast his vote at the Visva Bharati Staff Club polling station. On the 2026 SIR draft list, Sen’s name was mentioned as Part 274, Serial 169, as Prabasi Bharatiya (non-resident Indian).
