West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has written a sharply critical letter to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) of conducting the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in a coercive, insensitive and exclusionary manner.In her letter dated January 10, 2026, her second one this year, Banerjee said she was “deeply shocked and disturbed” by what she described as the ECI’s approach, alleging that the revision exercise has turned into “relentless harassment of ordinary citizens.”The chief minister claimed that the exercise, meant to be constructive and productive, has already allegedly resulted in 77 deaths, four suicide attempts and 17 hospitalisations, which she attributed to “fear, intimidation and disproportionate work load due to unplanned exercise undertaken by ECI.”Citing the notice issued to Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, Banerjee wrote, “It is a matter of profound shame that Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen – a nonagenarian and a globally respected intellectual – has been asked to appear before ECI officials to establish his credentials.”Criticising the ordeal as “unplanned, insensitive, and inhuman,” she pointed out that other notable figures, including Joy Goswami, Deepak Adhikari, and Mohammed Shami, had also been victimised.Banerjee further accused the Commission of political bias and selective targeting through logical inconsistencies. She warned that these erratic methods constitute a “deliberate and clandestine attempt” to disenfranchise the state’s eligible voters. In three letters sent earlier, Banerjee had raised concerns about the planning, timing and preparedness of the revision process, warning that it was being carried out in an ad hoc and hurried manner without adequate safeguards for vulnerable groups such as migrant workers, elderly citizens and those residing outside the state. The chief minister’s letter comes amid mounting controversy over the Election Commission’s notice to Sen, questioning discrepancies related to the age difference between the economist and his mother.Sen, who is currently hospitalised in the United States due to age-related health complications, has been unable to return to his Shantiniketan home this winter. Family members and caretakers say that despite old records clearly establishing the facts, the Commission has sought verification and is scheduled to visit Sen’s home, Pratichi, later this month.According to the family, official documents show that Amita Sen was born in 1914 and Amartya Sen in 1933, placing the age gap at over 19 years, a fact already reflected in earlier electoral rolls.“In the 2002 voter list, Amita Sen’s age was recorded as 88. Now the Election Commission claims the age gap is less than 15 years. This is factually incorrect and absurd,” said his cousin Shantabhanu Sen. “Is it the government’s job, after so many decades, to determine what the age difference between a mother and son should be? We have been witnessing the electoral process for nearly eight decades and have never seen such indecency. But repeatedly singling out a Nobel laureate and creating controversies around his name feels like a planned act of disrespect,” said Supriya Thakur, a descendant of the Tagore family. The controversy fostered a rare moment of political consensus, drawing sharp criticism from both the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Left parties over the ECI’s treatment of the SIR and the Nobel laureate. The ECI has yet to address these allegations or respond to the chief minister’s correspondence.Translated from Bengali to English by Aparna Bhattacharya.